Uma escola no rincão: memórias do Ensino Rural em São Francisco de Paula/RS (1968-1998)

Abstract

This study deals with the history of rural education in the period from 1968 to 1998, based on the memory of three teachers who taught at the Gastão Englert Early Childhood and Elementary School, located in the rural district of Rincão dos Kroeff, in São Francisco de Paula/RS. The concepts of school culture, memory and place gain relevance for this analysis. In this study, memory is understood as a social and collective construction from Halbswach and is subject to selections and changes in time from experiences and memories in the act of the interview. The concept of place, on the other hand, is understood as a lived and dynamic space, an immediate reference, in which practices and meanings are woven into everyday life. The methodology used was Historical Documentary Analysis and Oral History, in the latter the memories are analyzed as representations constructed in relation to social, cultural and political aspects of a time and space. It is identified in their narratives that they signify the rural space as a place of learning and, despite the adversities pointed out in their trajectories, they highlight the exercise of teaching with appreciation and proximity to the school community. Teachers highlight in their memories the knowledge produced in everyday life, basing their classroom practices on knowledge learned in empirical and school culture. Likewise, from the analysis of the documents in relation to the historical contextualization produced, continuities of practices and forms of organization of rural education in the Rincão do Kroeff are identified. Among these, we highlight the maintenance over time of isolated, multigrade schools with single and lay teachers, characteristics that were historically present in rural areas across the country during the 20th century.