Estrutura das representações sociais de estudantes de Pedagogia sobre universidade

Abstract

This research aims to understand the meanings attributed to the university by university students through the analysis of the structure and organization of the social representations shared by them. We assume that students, along with the professor, are the protagonists of the educational process and, in turn, the meanings attributed to the university influence student and professional practice and their socio-political positioning. The qualitative research takes as its theoretical framework the Theory of Social Representations, originated by Serge Moscovici, and the unfolding of the structural approach, proposed by Jean-Claude Abric. Through the structural approach, we can analyze the content of the representations and their internal structure, which are organized around two systems: the central system and the peripheral system. In this article, we are interested in discussing the elements of the peripheral system. The research field was the Pedagogy course at the Federal University of Alagoas, and the students were its protagonists. The data collection instrument used in the research was the Free Word Association Technique (FWAT) associated with a brief questionnaire for characterizing the participants, which was answered virtually using Google Forms. The collected data were analyzed using thematic content analysis, as referenced in Bardin (2010). The research results revealed that the social representations constructed by Pedagogy students at the Federal University of Alagoas are established in terms of formative and political-pedagogical dimensions. In addition to being objectified in the formative function of the university and anchored in the perspective of opportunities, issues of social justice, and the possibility of improving living conditions.