Abstract:

School coexistence (SC), understood as the process of building interactions and interrelationships between educational agents who share a common reality and time, has been studied mainly from regulatory frameworks or those focused on violence prevention. Therefore, it is not surprising to observe a strong tendency to infuse SC with control-oriented practices. This leads to a strong focus on diagnosing SC, rather than theorising about it.

Based on the above, this study presents the results of the empirical application of an instrument designed to characterise SC. The research was conducted from a critical and situated perspective, integrating relational, organisational, normative, pedagogical and values-based dimensions. The aim was to identify elements and components associated with school coexistence through the characteristics that educational agents consider to be a constituent part of this object of study.

The previously validated instrument was called ‘Characterising School Coexistence’ and grouped the responses of a representative sample of three schools in south-central Chile, accumulating a total of 278 responses from educational agents (students, teachers, families, teaching assistants and management teams). It consolidated a total of 32 items whose statements on SC focused on everything from its association with the concept of educational community to the methodological implications of the phenomenon.

Statistical analysis showed a Cronbach's alpha of 0.984 and high overall means per item (≈ 4.1–4.4 on a scale of 1 to 5). This indicates that the participating educational agents associate all items with SC. Thus, from the perspective of those involved, SC encompasses aspects linked to community, educational, regulatory, personal, political, administrative, and methodological features focused on reflective actions.

The aspects highlighted allow for a collective characterisation of SC, which also allows for the identification of four categories of interest. Firstly, in terms of a sense of community, more than 70% of people consider that SC is built by everyone, including students, families, teachers, assistants and management teams. Secondly, regarding school culture and values, nearly 80% agree that SC is linked to traditions, routines and celebrations that strengthen identity and a sense of belonging. Thirdly, in relation to participation, approximately two out of three people indicated that decision-making in schools should be shared and built through dialogue. Fourthly, regarding personal well-being, there is a tendency to relate the SC to individual care. However, this relationship tends to be weaker among students than among adults.

In conclusion, the study shows that SC is perceived as a shared concept that is widely recognised by the educational community. Thus, the perspectives of educational agents opt for a complex SC, which moves from violence prevention or the application of regulations and protocols towards collective co-construction. In this sense, the characteristics associated with SC allow it to be represented as a situated phenomenon, which can be interpreted, constructed and transformed by the people themselves.

Keywords:

Perceptions, School Coexistence, Educational Communities.