Schooling, Five Years Later: Images, Trajectories and Perspectives of Young Graduates

Schooling is a complex process of acquiring knowledge, skills, credentials, and dispositions and also a heterogenous period, a collection of spaces and times for sociability, production of meanings, and diverse experiences that will contribute to developing and constructing young subjectivities. But what marks from school permeate individuals' lives years after graduation? In this sense, the project entitled "The School, five years later: perspectives of Graduates" emerges. Conducted between 2020 and 2022, the research sought to investigate the trajectories of 20 young people from a private and a public school in Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). This project aimed to understand the beliefs about what was relevant in their schooling for their lives, comprehending their singularities and differences. The methodological process started with semi-structured photo-elicitation interviews to encourage the participants to think about their formative processes and their relationship with teachers, colleagues, and the institution. Data analysis was performed using Discursive Textual Analysis. Among the main results, the echoes of interaction between teachers and students stand out; the importance of the school as a space for inclusion and appreciation of singularities and the complexity of what is learned in school beyond the programmatic content. We conclude that while obtaining credentials, knowledge, and skills were important dimensions for the participants, the most significant marks of schooling were based on the relationships with others, listening, debating, understanding, and misunderstandings between teachers and students.