Abstract:

Affected by contemporary Brazilian society in which there are conflicting demands and weakened by problems caused by socioeconomic and educational issues, teachers are challenged in several ways that remind us not only of their situation in schools and their role in modern society, but also of their education. Considering teachers as agents of social change, this paper will examine teaching and learning actions in the projects “The Teaching and Learning Habitus: Constructing a New Reality in Basic Education in Natal” and “Literacies and public politics: the family in the school”, which are part of the Education Laboratory, an investment program aimed at developing research in education. This discussion focuses on literacy projects that were developed in a collaborative approach with teachers in initial and continued education in the area of Languages and Literature (“Letras”). Centered on the qualification of the Portuguese Language teachers, this project aims at: 1. Promoting processes of teacher qualification in situated contexts; 2. Developing a set of language actions directed at widening curriculum knowledge in the area of Letras and at developing teachers´ reading and writing competence; and 3. Qualifying teachers in initial and continued education to teach literacy practices that involve reading, writing, language analysis and oral skills in the school context. Theoretically, the study is based on Bourdieu´s work (1975; 2003), mainly on the notions of habitus, field and cultural capital, on studies about situated literacy, which are interested in the local x global articulation (Barton et al., 1998; 2000; Street, 1993), and on critical literacy, based on views of social change and empowerment (Freire, 1973; Luke and Baynham, 2004). Methodologically, this research has a critical ethnography character (Thomas, 1993), also adopting Brofenbrenner´s proposal (1996) in relation to the ecological-social perspective. The data for analysis were generated in three state schools in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. The results suggest that the work developed through literacy projects can orient teachers to become literacy agents that are capable of mobilizing resources, skills and knowledge to act with their students in the social world through reading and writing, which has promoted political consciousness, protagonism, autonomy and social justice.

Keywords:

Literacy, Family, Public Politics, Literacy projects.