Sucesso escolar dos alunos no ensino secundário dos cursos científico-humanísticos

Abstract

A lot has been investigated and published about educational success. In fact, students’ success is a variable of great social and political complexity, as it is not only related with the current social and educational policies. Success is also connected with family's sociocultural context, school institutional boards, management, teachers, students, school curricula, resources, school environment, pedagogical options and also with the students’ dispositions, attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, in front of a society in constant change, will a successful student feel a responsible person, autonomous and prepared to be an active citizen at the end of compulsory education? Which will effectively be students’ success predictors? As a secondary school teacher with a long teaching career in the area of Physics and Chemistry, almost exclusively at the same school, I have had the opportunity to work constantly with students from the same socio-cultural background who are successful in secondary school. So, the motivation for the accomplishment of this work entitled “Sucesso Escolar dos Alunos no Ensino Secundário dos Cursos Científico-Humanísticos” was based on the relevance of the above question, combined with knowledge, on-site experience with successful students and with their availability and seriousness. After defining the concept of successful students and identifying them by considering a documentary analysis of their school results, it was used a qualitative study of interpretative nature in order to answer to the object of this investigation. This way, it was possible to understand how successful students effectively feel and evaluate school and to highlight the following factors that promote student success: having clear and realistic goals which endorse higher expectations by promoting motivation and self esteem; regular study practices and self-regulation of their learning; a democratic parenting style; a good pedagogical relationship with teachers; an ambitious class and an adequate school schedule. It should be noted that, for most of these students, the concept of success is still very connected with the results of exams and with the final average of the course, which is one of the reasons why they manifest some discontentment with their school experience, despite obtaining high academic performance.

Date of Award	11 Nov 2020
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	José Matias Alves (Supervisor)