Being poor at school: exploring conditions of educability in the favela

Abstract

This article explores how different ways of experiencing poverty affect the possibilities of poor children to make the most of their education. The study uses the concept of conditions of educability to reflect how the different dimensions of the experience of poverty facilitate or hinder the success of educational practices and the learning of poor students. In the first part of the article, the concept of conditions of educability is discussed in relation to the notions of capabilities and functionings, and a framework to investigate conditions of educability is presented. The second part of the article is based on the results of a study conducted in Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Through an analysis of interviews conducted with students, families and teachers, the different dimensions of the social experience of the children who inhabit the favelas are described. Two cases are presented and discussed as analytical examples of the conditions of educability of poor children. The last section of the article assesses some of the consequences of conditions of educability for the policy debate.

Keywords:

• poverty
• education
• capabilities
• educability
• Brazil

Notes

1. For an account of these omissions, see Bonal (2007) or Bonal et al. (2010).

2. See McCowan (2011, 291) for an interesting discussion on this matter.

3. The research project explored six scenarios of educability and uneducability: educability through opportunity, educability through investment, uneducability by disaffection, uneducability by stigma, uneducability by violence, and chronic uneducability. See Bonal et al. (2010) for a complete description of all scenarios.

4. Apart from the criteria mentioned, which are common to all students in the sample, the sample is diverse in terms of students’ sex, educational background and social conditions.

5. Bolsa Escola was a Conditional Cash Transfer Programme linked to school attendance. Belo Horizonte used to have one of the most complete Conditional Cash Transfer Programme in Brazil, with significant levels of coverage and a generous monetary transfer.

6. See Wright (1994) for an analysis on the discourses about poverty.

7. There are usually three school time slots in Belo Horizonte’s poor schools (and in most Brazilian cities), which last only for four hours each.