“we need to talk about break-time!”: the construction of the common by children in school

Abstract

The present article analyses the possibilities of producing the common in school by thechildren. Schools have favoured the development of individualities centred on aims ofself-realization and individual competitive performance. Beyond these identifications thatsecure personal interests and survival, the conviviality with the others in school posesdemands that allow for children’s mobilization in the construction of collective senses,actions, territories and social spaces. In the present work, the issue of the break-timeconstitutes the dispositif whereby children institute, however ephemerally andpunctually, singular points of view on their particular gerational position in school. Wediscuss the results of an empirical research carried out in a municipal school in Rio deJaneiro and argue for the “public voice of children” in their process of collectivelyengaging to recreate the school context. We conclude considering the relevance ofbridging the distance between the fields of politics and childhood as it seems necessary togive an answer to the question about what childhood has to do with democracy.