Making a difference in poor communities: relations among actors in Mexican schools

Abstract

Even in marginalized towns it is possible to find school communities that have developed relationships that encourage the construction of institutional cultures and management structures prone to superior academic performance compared to others within the same context. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research project conducted in 8 towns and 16 schools in Mexico. The analytical framework is based on Kenneth Gergen’s social constructionism. The paper highlights the role of the school’s principal in the construction of relationships in the school community and the build-up of practices leading to shared meaning and goals. The desire and ability of the principal to promote dialogue and provide spaces for it are central, as well as her or his ability to interpret and translate the needs of parents and community, and the systemic norms from the Ministry of Education, to the reality of the community and the parents.

Keywords:

• relationships
• schools
• principal
• Mexico
• marginalized

Notes

1. All the numbers presented for the schools are from the 2010–2011 school year.

2. The results of Enlace, the national standardized test, place the students in four levels: “Insufficient, Basic, Good and Excellent,” and indicate what the score is of the school, of the state, and of the country.

3. The categorization of schools in groups is an analytical process, and does not mean schools in the group are the same, but that they have common characteristics. School A in Morelos 2, for example, is probably the school closest to the second group, since the process of dialogue is more restricted than in the other schools. However, since there is a clear project linked with the community, it was placed in the first group.

4. Pejorative way to refer to a teacher, it indicates an unprofessional teacher.