Making visible... making us visible - Evelina Rosanna Zeballos

1
Evelina Rosanna Zeballos
“Making visible…
Making us visible…”
The construction of the paradigm
of the integral protection of rights
in daily life at school

“Making visible…
Making us visible…”
The construction of the paradigm
of the integral protection of rights
in daily life at school

Zeballos, Evelina Rosanna
Making visible... making us visible : the construction of the paradigm of
the integral protection of rights in daily life at school . - 1a ed. - Ciudad
Autónoma de Buenos Aires : el autor, 2014.
E-Book.
ISBN 978-987-33-5116-7
1. Violencia Escolar. I. Título.
CDD 371.782
Fecha de catalogación: 16/05/2014
Author: Evelina Rosanna Zeballos (e_zeballos@hotmail.com)
Translation: Tim Lough (tim@lough.com)
Translation & general correction: María Valentina García (valenteacher@hotmail.com)
Cover & inside photos: Florencia Nussbaum (flornuss@hotmail.com)
eBook: Diego Ferruchelli (dferruchelli@gmail.com)

To the children, our students at Indira Gandhi school,
from whom we learn every day.
To my colleagues, all the staff at school,
with whom we are building up a popular and democratic State School.

PRESENTATION
“Making visible...” is an account of pedagogical practices and experiences carried out for
over more than five years with the educational community at “Indira Gandhi” school
(N°11 D.E.10 in the City of Buenos Aires) in which the children, staff, families and
external support teams and institutions, with whom we built various projects, actively
participated.
The text results from and accounts for the daily schoolwork, the reflections, readings,
queries and discussions with endearing partners. It is enhanced with texts by authors I
was able to have access to throughout different formative segments of my life, and which
have been of immense value to systematize ideas; among them, the works of Michael
Apple and of authors put forward by FLACSO's Social Science Specialization. It is here
where “Making Visible...” is born.
I have decided to socialize experiences that make our students visible mainly because I
reckon that no true change is possible unless it revises and delves into children's place as
Rights' holders (the 1989 International Convention on the Rights of the Child develops
this idea). An educational practice that forms students in this field is necessarily a
transformative political practice.
“Making visible...” reveals the emancipatory power of the word through the exercise of
the right to be listened to.*
What I have learnt about this right, general axis of this work,
is specifically owed to my teacher Daniel López, Headmaster at the Training and
Research Institute “Master Cacho Carranza”, belonging to the Education Workers´ Union,
where I have participated since 2003. Regarding this right several topics are raised, such
as the class assemblies, which are resumed and expanded through presentations and
papers of my authorship.
These experiences show that our students, intelligent, sensitive, eager to learn and with
much to share, are Holders of Rights as long as their rights are acknowledged, respected
and exercised. And we are working on (and towards) that.
The proposal seeks to be a contribution towards the transformation of hegemonic
cultures which, to a great extent, are still in force in present societies and schools.
The opinions expressed in this book are exclusively my responsibility and might or might
not be shared.
The author.
* Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Observation N°5; Law 114 Art.17 from C.A.B.A.; Law
26061, art. 24 from the Argentine Nation).

"Making visible… Making us visible…"
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 7
What is to make a child visible...?
What is to be a social and political subject...? .................................................... 8
FIRST PART .................................................................................................... 13
A brief history of “the 11” .............................................................................. 14
The Child: subject or object? .......................................................................... 17
The leading team and their situation today.
What place do they have in this construction?................................................... 19
SECOND PART................................................................................................. 23
The (incipient) construction of the paradigm for the
integral protection of rights in the daily life of the school. ................................... 24
The experience of instituting areas for taking part
by means of discussion and reflecting on decision taking. ................................ 24
1. The construction of the school project ....................................................... 25
Memory and Identity.............................................................................. 28
2. Class Assemblies and Exchange Rounds..................................................... 32
The situation of the children today ........................................................... 32
3. Room for community sharing ................................................................... 35
4. Support Teams ...................................................................................... 38
An account of what happened in 2012. ..................................................... 39
Fragments of the recorded teachers' meeting on November 19th, 2012......... 44
5. A road forward to the formation of promoters of rights ................................ 48
Case (or situations) analysis as a pedagogic strategy.................................. 48
The Human Rights Forum. A place to socialize knowledge............................ 51
January 2012 – A Journey .................................................................. 52
“The Right to Land”, a significant learning................................................. 55
Words of the teachers as a part of the presentation of the work............... 56
I would like to share some issues with you for reflection:........................ 57
Chart on the right to land ................................................................... 58
More information on this right............................................................. 59
The Family of Good Land (final version corrected and printed) ................. 60
Table which summarises paradigms.............................................................. 62
BY WAY OF CONCLUSION ................................................................................. 63
Retrieving principles in action ......................................................................... 64
Those who work at “Indira” ............................................................................ 67
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................. 71
Legislation / Documents ................................................................................ 73
Talks, conferences & papers by the author or in which she has co-authorship ........ 74
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7
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION

What is to make a child visible...? 1
What is to be a social and political subject...? 2
After participating in different school leading teams for 10 years I am still wondering why
are students so often invisibilised at educational institutions?, if the norms, amongst
them the curricular lineaments, propose the prominence of the subjects. On the one
hand I refer to a legality linked to human rights which has become more noticeable in
recent years, and on the other the use of an old paradigm, of a model of education,
where the student does not take decisions and is very often manipulated. This
“protective” model is contradictory with the paradigm of Human Rights. These tensions
and contradictions are found in the daily school life, they are a part of scholastic culture.
To regard students as subjects of law is something that is included in school speeches.
Nevertheless, in this culture they continue to be objects under the decisions of others
and of practices of detrimental rights, very often presented as forms of “protection”. 3
You can therefore identify contradictions between the merely formal discourse of the
scholastic system and what really happens in the school and in the teaching practice. In
this reality, from the institutional practices, the power of Education as a transforming
political practice and the students as social and political subjects are not recognised. Or is
it a culture that recognises them and therefore they are gagged?
On recording, systematizing and analysing the problem, we find manifestations of the
school culture as a weave of senses.4
Culture is made up of stories which account for
what is happening and is mainly reflective. If we refer to a school culture, we will
encounter the value of the actions which are produced in the school. In this culture
authoritarian traits are manifested, especially when, from personal experience, an
opposition and an antagonism arise between those who order and those who obey, which
makes team work and cooperation between people little credible. Furthermore, in
classrooms some contents are prioritized over others, without taking into account where
the youngsters come from and where they are raised. Thus, the context such as the
physical environment, historical or cultural circumstances, is a further reference; ideas,
previous learning and knowledge are as yet little recognised.5
The histories of the
students, beliefs, forms of recognition of what to do with others or intervene (in their
own family, their neighbourhood, their friends, etc.) are not taken into account,
1 That they can be seen, perceptible, distinguishable.
2 It is a person that belongs and takes part in a social group. It is also allusive to the figure of a citizen as
the subject actor, with the ability to choose and live in freedom, taking part in an active manner in the
social and political outcome-
3 Ministry of Public Guardianship (2010). “Childhood, adolescence and mental health in the City of
Buenos Aires” report on the management of the Ministry of Public Guardianship of the City of Buenos
Aires.
4 Culture is the conjunction of habits, representations, reciprocal expectations which characterize the
social sphere; it is a network of feelings that configure the subjective conditions of the educational
organizations… who each one is and what they do in the school; it can be interpreted as from a
scholastic culture, says Siede I. (2011): “Articulations, filtrations, contrasts and contributions between the
initial and primary levels”. Specialization in Social Sciences with a mention in Curriculum and Scholastic
Practices in Context, University of Latin American Social Sciences (FLASCO).
5 Bixio, C. (2005): “Teaching hoe to learn, build a collective area of teaching-learning”, educational
series, Homo Sapiens Publishing.
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prioritizing knowledge “which has to be transmitted” formulated from the designs built up
from the central government. These curricular guidelines, even though they originated in
some collaborative work and from articulation of some groups consulted at that time,
they are still the official thinking, markedly technical and distant for the individuals at the
school. That is to say, it results in a knowledge produced by the dominant culture, as
Max Weber understood the domination such as “the possibility of imposing a mandate in
a social relationship, in such a manner that its compliance is considered a
responsibility.”6
From this protective culture the transmission of knowledge valued by certain power
groups is put in jeopardy and “the spread of knowledge that the school presents is
reduced (at the same time that) the voices that are outside of this culture are silenced” 7
and the “official” knowledge is taught as an absolute truth. In this way it becomes
complex to generate institutionalized conditions to transform the curriculum according to
the characteristics of the school and of the children who attend the school, tackling the
context in which it is immersed, and the knowledge of the community members. No
politics are in view which could cause a change in the relationship of the knowledge of
the minorities.
Likewise, what occurs in the daily life of the school many times constitutes “a hidden
curriculum through which significant lessons in justice, power, dignity and self -value are
learnt”.8
That is to say what and who the school values.
Summing up, old teachers with years of experience as well as new teachers, consider
that there are repeated instances of hegemonic models that underlie the teaching
practice with the students. In official judgement, and in the majority of cases, there is no
participation of the knowledge of the children and their families.
A characteristic trait in the daily practice of culture care is not to listen to the students´
voice. One of its causes is their own anguish in front of the difference, though this cause
is disguised, for example, with the fear of losing authority before the students. It could
be said that this is why authoritarianism increases; it places the adult in the place of the
lord and master, of that who does not need to listen because they already know what
happens with the other. Wouldn’t it be more correct to regard the different as enriching?
Another possible cause is not having taken part in democratic exercise in their own
schooling. This indicates the loss of opportunities and commitment as young students,
being agents of the practices of silencing, shutting-up, obeying, repeating what was
dictated to them.
A third cause probably has to do with the influence of adverse working conditions which
create diverse anxiety problems. These conditions range from precariousness to the
permanent attention of violent conflicts, which exceed teacher training and oblige
teachers to move out of their working areas, and show the lack of public policies to
attend to the diverse social problems, as well as educational measures of protection/care
towards the teachers and pupils.
6 Garcia, O. (2012): Education, social pact and citizenship”, in Seda, J.A. (coordinator): “Spreading
rights and citizenship within the school”, Chapter 7, Eudeba, Buenos Aires, page 120.
7 Apple, M.W. & Beane J.A. (1999): “Democratic Schools”, Collection of Pedagogy; Pedagogy Today,
Morata Publishing, Madrid, page 30.
8 Apple, M.W. & Beane, J.A: op.cit, page 30
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In this work, “Making children visible”, is above all else to respect their condition as
subjects.9
“The subject is somebody conscious of their own existence…. they are aware that they
are before the world and they raise enigmas….. Knowing does not mean having
information but rather producing hypothetic issues….. The subject is the protagonist:
they believe they are unique and irreplaceable”. 10
To respect the condition of the subject means that every child should be listened to and
taken into consideration, since they are already carriers of knowledge and needs, and
they must be protected against any situation of vulnerability. Therefore they have to be
respected as children as well as to know their responsibilities. In our job it is an
indispensable condition because “it is a question of ethics. Ethics consists in taking into
account the presence and existence of the other… it is based on the principle of a similar
being, that is to say, in the manner in which I confront my responsibilities towards
someone else”.11
We have to take into account, furthermore, that the relationship in the
school between teacher and student is asymmetrical. That is to say, a bond that involves
forms of responsibility and not forms of authority; the asymmetry “is based on actions
and not on the power of who exerts it….Obviously, it has to be sustained in a difference
of knowledge and not of power”.12
Many times, in fear of being authoritarian teachers
undertake a symmetry that blurs responsibilities.
What can be done, then, for the students to consolidate, to take charge of their condition
of subjects?
The most important thing is to consider their word as “authorized word”. 13
At “Indira Ghandi School”, of which I am a part, the road to follow to build up this
positioning is the daily exercise of the right to be listened to. 14
What then, is to consider them as social and political subjects?
In the first place, when we think of students as social and political subjects, we think of
them as taking part in the world, with the ability to choose and live freely and with the
ability to take measures which improve their condition in life and that of others. In other
words, carrying out and building up citizenship.
9 Dente, L & Bener G. ( 2010): “Moving towards the production teaching cultures sensitive to infantile
and juvenile cultures”, Diploma in Curriculum and Scholastic Practices in Context, FLASCO.
10 Bleichmar, S (2010): “Social Violence-School Violence. Establishing limits on the construction of
legalities”, Conjunction Collection, Noveduc, Argentina, page 136.
11 Bleichmer, S: op. cit., page 28.
12 Bleichmer, S: op. cit., page 144.
13 Curricular Design for Primary Schools of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires
14 Documents from the Institute of Formation & Investigation, Master Cacho Carranza, Education
Workers Union, CTERA, CTA. Observation No 13 (2011): Introduction, page 3, General Overview.
10

And this is how Michael Apple, pedagogue and theoretician in critical pedagogy, believes
that to be able to build democratic schools, that is to say, a place where the right of
people to take part in the decision making is respected, where the students consolidate
their condition as subjects and where an integral protection of rights exists, it is
necessary to create structures and democratic processes, by means of which school
life and a curriculum that offers democratic experiences for the children15
is
configured. This outline of work will be possible if we count on educators who “put into
effect the dispositions and opportunities which will give life to democracy”.16
Therefore, the school has the obligation of taking the necessary actions to steer towards
“citizenship education whose learning is expressed in attitudes, values and forms of
relationship with the community”;
17
we refer to an intersubjective formation, which
contains all the subjects of each one of these networks which are defined by the personal
(with reference to someone else), scholastic or citizenship; fundamentally considering the
infancies in terms of present and future.18
That is to say “that they become active
members of the community, taking part in and carrying out articulated roles in public
space”. 19
Here it would be interesting to reflect upon some experiences which have tried to and are
trying to generate a scholastic culture that makes the students more visible, and to place
them as social and political subjects20
, by enabling the legitimate processes of
participation where individual and collective capabilities are developed to question, for
example, concealments and omissions linked to law.21
But... are the only invisible ones are the children and teenagers in the schools?
I think not. That is why, in the case of our school, the challenge is that all members of
our community can cease to be so.
“People committed to the creation of democratic schools also understand that creating
them is more compromising than the proper education of the youngsters. Democratic
schools are designed to be democratic places, inasmuch that the idea of democracy
should also encompass the numerous roles that adults play in schools…”. 22
Upon this construction, that of visibility, and on the emancipating power of the word lies,
this story.
15 Apple, M.W & Beane, J.A.: op. cit., page 25.
17 Varela, M.C. (2012) “Citizenship Formation and Pedagogic Link”, in Seda J.A. (coordinator) “Diffusion
in the school of rights and citizenship”, Chapter 2, Eudeba, Buenos Aires.
18 Dente, L & Brener, G.: op. cit.
19 Apple, M.W. & Beane, J.A.: op. cit.
20 Dente, L. & Brener, G.: op. cit.
21 López, D. (2012): “To be heard, human rights and education” in: Secretary of Education of the
Education Workers Union: “Politics of Infancy: Teacher contributions to current debates on children and
youth”, Miño & Davila, Buenos Aires, pages 125 to 148.
22 Apple, M. W. & Beane, J.A.: op.cit, page 22
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12

13
FIRST PART
FIRST PART

A brief history of “the 11”
“Indira Ghandi” school is located in the area of Nuñez, near the Buenos Aires University
campus and a few meters from the “Costanera”. Next door is “Parque Norte”, a complex
belonging to the Union of Commercial Employees, and it also shares a paddock of more
than three hectares with “Puerto Pibes”, an institute that belongs to the Ministry of Social
Development of the City of Buenos Aires, which is dedicated to the use of children and
adolescents. In its large green areas it has small pitches for games, swings, slides, etc.
for the entertainment of the students.
The school facilities used to be where the old “Nuñez Swimming Pools” operated in the
time of the Social Welfare State, and there was no gas or a kitchen from 2007 up to April
2012. This was when the families of our students, who live in the “Villa 31”, decided to
join their plea for school buses for their children to the appeal to put the school building
into proper condition; an appeal that had been ignored for years.
The school population is made up of children who live in the neighbourhoods of the area
around Retiro station that conform the Villa 31 (YPF, Güemes, Chino, 31, 31 Bis…), the
shanty towns that surround Saldías station and the district which carries the same name,
and also the conurbation areas of the Province of Buenos Aires as far as “Tierras Altas”
(High Lands) through which the Belgrano Railway runs and has a stop at a station in
front of the school. Some of these families have been attending the school for more than
thirty years, which speaks of a history and involves us all in the daily cohabitation of
various generations of pupils.
As for the environmental conditions in which these families live, they are diverse; be it
because they are different districts, as it happens with the conurbation, or because they
live in different neighbourhoods within the same area as is the case of the Villa 31. These
conditions range from absolute precariousness (families that live in the streets or in large
sheds in which small rooms have been built) up to having basic services and incomes
that allow for a better subsistence. However, they all carry the stigma of being “villeros”
(people who live in shanty towns). This also conditions the type of jobs they can access,
and in the majority of cases these are informal part time jobs, like portering, masonry,
sale of cardboard, illegal parking attendants, cleaning and, in a few cases steady full time
employment. There are some families who are entirely unemployed. Most of them make
up short falls in their income going on the dole. Some adults work long hours and this is
influential in the amount of time they can spend with their children who, in many cases
are left in the charge of older siblings. The daily life of the groups to which our students
belong is diverse and complex and with multiple needs unsatisfied, as is the case of the
sectors of abject poverty, where the majority of their rights are violated as a result of
social, economic, and exclusion policies. Faced with this, the Government of the City of
Buenos Aires is implementing policies of inclusion and solving everything just with
children´s school attendance. This compensation also includes school books and writing
materials.
Relating to the school, I can say that, even having been through very complicated
situations, we meet many parents showing their concern that their children should learn
and that they should do so in the best conditions possible. The children on the other
hand, arrive at class with a lot of uncertainty due to the daily difficulties they struggle
through related to food, home, health, protection, etc.; and this does not allow them to
fully develop their potential as also their possibilities of questioning the world. Can a
school teach a child that is so worried about their and their family’s survival?... How?
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It is important to take into account several matters concerning the history of the school
and which are related to this work: up until 2008 the teaching and non -teaching staff, in
their greater majority, had been a long time with the school; they had a “paternalistic”23
attitude towards the management team. The teachers were friendly with the kids, they
attended to the families and they taught. In their majority the children were very
affectionate with adults from the school and they were also quiet and obedient. If
situations or problems with the children arose they were mainly resolved in two ways:
summoning them to the headmaster’s / headmistress’ office, alone or with the child’s
parents or the method of mediation24
was used. These forms in different manners are
still used by some of the staff. It can be said that they thought of the children as beings
to be “moulded” for the future.
It is interesting to point out that, according to what people close to the institution have
mentioned, the families not only consider the school to be a place where they can place
their problems, but also where they will be solved. For example, obtaining clothes,
money, food, appointments with diverse professionals and making the school schedules
flexible to cater for their needs, etc. That is to say that the ideas of the community as to
what the school functions consisted of were blurred, becoming an omnipresent point of
reference due to the absence of state policies on the part of the Government of Buenos
Aires.
These families felt welcome, contained and they recognised with words and gestures
what the school was giving them; the teachers at the same time took care of the children
and the issues of vulnerability, but this bond was not regarded as welfare (guardianship,
in reality subordination), far from the links between subjects, where, for example,
urgencies, needs, expectations are recognised, giving way to diverse voices in equality
levels and finding solutions that overcome the problems, from the collective
responsibilities.
As for the parents, their participation was on formal occasions such as meetings where
the terms marks were handed out, school ceremonies, tiding up the kitchen garden or
doing general repairs, but they had no part in the decision making at the school. It
should be borne in mind that this lack of participation in the decision making at the
school has to do with, amongst other things, not giving sufficient importance to the voice
of the children and the adults of their community, in the necessary collective construction
of the school. It all responded to the model of a “large family”25
, where the primary links
predominate.
23 A model in which the head of the school invokes the father figure that protects and evolves, in this
case an example could be to tell them what to do and how to do it before taking decisions and being
responsible for these, amongst other things.
24 This last strategy is an instance where after learning various techniques, a child takes part in a problem
between two other students. This is related to resolving personal and individual conflicts, where his
strength lies, but its solution doesn’t always result in benefits for the interior of the groups. Furthermore
you run the risk that the interests of the mediator will interfere. Therefore a permanent supervision is
required as in some cases the people don’t open their mouths.
25 Frigerio, G., Poggi, M. (1995): “The educational institutions. Heads or Tails. Elements for its
understanding”, Flasco Action Series. Troquel education, 5th edition, page 40.
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The need existed to take action that would position the students, teachers, auxiliary help
and parents in another place…
Could we think of gathering them to take part with their own knowledge and together try
to generate a culture different to a “large family”?
Could this positioning help to construct another view of the school and the place that
each one can occupy within and out of the school?
16

The Child: subject or object?
“It is not possible to teach citizenship values in our era and to question children from a
position of inequality and submission”
Leandro Stagno
Within Argentina the educational system of the City of Buenos Aires is one of the most
advanced in curricular legislation. These norms extensively emphasise the place of
children as subjects, as well as vindicate the importance of the Community within the
daily life at School. Dussel states that the curriculum “is what allows us to see what type
of organization of knowledge , experiences and bonds with the students and the world
the school proposes”.26
Nevertheless, in many practices and speeches marginalization and the Guardianship
Paradigm continue to be legitimised.27
Within this paradigm people and specially children
have no voice; like infants: they cannot speak. Schools regard them as “underage” who
have to be formed, educated and prepared for the future; that is to say they have no
present. Their place as subjects is not recognised.
As a result, even if the importance of the development of critical thought, autonomy and
the capability of transforming the world is spoken about, it is impossible that this can
move forward as the children have no possibilities of learning and being taught from a
position of active subjects (this looks back on the self -reflection and action on what is
being lived and not simple activism). I make reference here to the intervention upon
school life from topics specifically linked to the disciplinary areas of the curriculum, as in
matters that crop up in the institution and beyond this those related to citizenship, such
as solving problems that affect their daily life, that of their family and the groups to
which they belong, etc…
To sum up, in this guardianship culture, relationships of minority and of incapacity are
established. There is no subject, relationships are those of subordination. A lot of “don’t
do’s” are taught and behaviour is analysed from a “disciplinary”28
point of view. As I was
saying, the subjects are objects of the decisions of others. 29
26 Dussel, I: “Curriculum, approaches to define what should be taught in schools today”. Explore &
Project, Pedagogic, Part No 7.
27 Paradigm Guardianship has it legitimacy as from 1919 under the Board of Minors Act (or the Agote
Act) which under the argument of protecting minors in situations of crime or abandonment authorized
the State’s discretional intervention, a power to place at the disposal of the State all minors considered
to be in a “moral and material risk situation”. This doctrine of “irregular situation” (as opposed to integral
protection) establishes a complex guardianship (protection) and a correctional system (healing) and
puts into effect a group of institutionalized politics for minors. This Act was valid up to 2005. En Carli, S.
(2001): “The child as a Subject of Law”, Rosario.
28 Lopez, D: op. cit.
29 Carli, S.: op.cit.
17

As from the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), which Argentina ratified in
1990 and incorporated into her Constitution in 1994, a change has been produced in the
way in which infancy and its relationship with the State, with the family and the
community is conceived. Children are defined as “Rights´ Holders”, an essential concept
in a new paradigm. Later, Acts N° 114 (of the City of Buenos Aires-1998) and N° 26.061
(of the Nation-2005) reaffirm this concept. The family as a primordial nucleus in the
defence, promotion, and protection of rights is recognised, and co-responsibility between
this, the civil society and the State in this protection.30
As from this point “the subject is
thought of per se, material, concrete, and immersed in the social relationships in which
the subject lives”.31
Nevertheless, the change of the paradigm is a slow construction for
diverse reasons. Amongst them the authoritarian history, the lack of awareness of
children’s rights, the lack of training in Human Rights, the fear of losing teacher
authority, the need to maintain an “order”, the political intentionality, etc. The
institutional actors: students and professors primarily are the main constructors of the
scholastic culture, taking actions and producing diverse knowledge.32
And you have to
give them (or take from them?) the place which corresponds to them in the school.
At “Indira Ghandi” school we are working on these changes. The institution, as has been
mentioned, attends to children from underprivileged and highly vulnerable families. Many
times in schools which attend to communities in complex contexts, the teachers and
personnel do not listen to the voices and associate poverty with lack of intelligence, thus
marginalizing the subjects.33
Beginning with historical as well as emerging situations, we have started to use devices
and processes34
that foster a place where children and their families, as well as teachers
and helpers, can be heard. We can all freely express our needs, difficulties and obstacles.
We can also come up with solutions, strengths, and wishes and take part in the decision
making.
If we think, then, of a summoning issue, the relationship between voice and citizenship,
we could say that the initial moment of that relationship is the moment that we recognise
students as subjects, trusting their word as “authorised”, that is to say, that it has value,
and that every child has the right to be heard.
30 Documents from the Cacho Carranza Institure-UTE.
31 Barna Cingolani, A.L. (2012): “An anthropological look at the discourse on the rights of the child” in
Seda, J.A. (coordinator): “Diffusion of the rights and of citizenship in the school”, Chapter 9, Eudeba,
Buenos Aires, page 161.
32 Stagno, L. (2011) “On forms of thinking and living infancy” 12/98 City of Buenos Aires Legislature.
33 Kaplan, C. (2005) “Inequality, failure, exclusion: A question of genes or of opportunities?” in S.
Llomovatte & C. Kaplan (coordinators): “Educational inequality: nature as a pretext” , Noveduc,
Educational Novelties Publishers, Page 81.
34 Apple, M.W & Beane, J.A. : op. cit., page 24.
18

The possibility of the word will open new roads through the expression of ideas,
arguments, position taking, argumentation, etc. generating visions and positioning
allowing for common horizons, backed up by the right to be heard.35
Making students visible, is to consider them as subjects with rights, by the permanent
exercise of the right to be heard.
Can this road pave the way for the construction of a social democratic school culture?
Will this right mean a commitment in the transformation towards a guardian school
culture towards a culture of protection of integral rights?
The leading team and their situation today.
What place do they have in this construction?
State schools are under a governing board, made up by a Headmaster or Headmistress,
a Deputy Head and a Secretary.
What words would define the role of this board? In a general outline its members
organise and manage the life of the school by means of a variety of tasks such as
accompanying, informing and advising the teachers; helping and guiding the students,
their families or family groups; favouring communication, interpreting the context and
the emerging situations, etc. The members share this work coming to agreements in
accordance with their characteristics and capabilities, and the institutional needs.
Notwithstanding the specific functions of each one of them, these needs are clearly
defined in the School Regulations.36
In the framework of this work, addressing the concerns of our mission as Heads in these
times, and the legal responsibility we have, in many cases legitimised by the community,
we have to ask ourselves: are there difficulties in the daily life of the school that make
the democratic role of the Heads, which favour the protection of rights, an impossibility?
And if these exist, what are the causes for this to happen?
In the first place, and from my own personal experience as part of these teams and on
conversing to many of them, issues that produce an impact on the dynamics of the
institution as also the working conditions can be named.
35 Law 114 “Integral Protection of Children and Adolescent Rights 12/98, City of Buenos Aires Legislature.
36 Scholastic Regulations for the Schools of the City of Buenos Aires – Resolution from the Ministry of
Education No 4776/06.
19

We have to be in charge of:
• Administrative tasks in some cases repeated more than once, or which correspond to
other instances of the system.
• Attending to tasks of infrastructure: formalities dealing with problems linked to
flooding, blocked sewage, gas, leaks and breakages in the roof which can destroy
part of the class rooms or be dangerous to the children, etc. Tasks which are
devastating due to the time, the effort and the energy they require and over which
we know nothing about but, all the same, we have to take charge of.37
At present,
and for some time now, minor tasks (electricity, cleaning of water tanks, fixing locks,
unblocking pipes) are being carried out by personnel from companies contracted by
the government of the City of Buenos Aires; each one of them takes care of various
schools during the month. Problems with the buildings continue in many schools as
this government does not have the necessary funds to solve them, or due to the
precariousness of those jobs already carried out.
• The difficulties which a large part of the students are going through such as
abandonment, ill treatment, physical and verbal violence, and the consequent
learning problems which we have to handle alone and without being able to solve the
problems of lack of tools or strategies for the teachers who have to face these
students every day. We cannot seriously count on an Orientation Team38
as a work
group as the current one is more than insufficient as it already handles hundreds of
situations which crop up in the district (there are five professionals for a population of
6,000 students) which ends up being no more than two or three students per school.
And when we try to inform of these situations which occur with the students to the
office for the Protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents39
the handling of
the case is totally deficient. The State and its representatives ignore their obligations
in relationship to the politics or programs for the protection of children.40
These working conditions, amongst other issues, invalidate the possibility of organizing
ourselves or of being heard and, hence, reflect upon the problems.
37 In the school I am speaking about, for example, the costly formalities and intense discussions, in many
cases with different teams under the Ministry of Education of the City of Buenos Aires, over a period five
years for them to solve the problems such as the lack of gas and a kitchen, the poor condition of the
roofs, and the poor workmanship of the tasks already carried out (roofs, gas, sewage…) etc.
38 Organization or resource which each scholastic district has, and which has personnel with professions
such as psychology, psychopedagogy and social assistants to attend to diverse problems.
39 Dependency of the Council for Children and Adolescents of the city of Buenos Aires.
40 Convention on the Rights of the Child – Committee for the Rights of the Child – Observation No 13
(2011) “The right of the child not to be the object of any form of violence” – Heading IV Legal Analysis of
article. 19 Art. 42-point b1-a & 1b.
20

Furthermore, also on multiple occasions, incoherences within the system become
manifest. On the one hand, preaching on human rights, team work, and the collective
decision making… and on the other hand, people who occupy higher positions remind us
that we are in a hierarchical system and they tell us to obey, and at the same time
explain to us how the others should obey us: “you are the Heads of the school” (referring
to the headmistresses/Headmasters), “all (they enumerate….) are obliged to respect the
hierarchical way”. Contributions, apart from the daily work of the Board, are related to
“how to look after yourself” so as to not have problems. All of us who are in the
ascension process of the teaching profession accept that there are people who occupy
positions of more responsibility, and that they will give us indications which we have to
respect, as a necessary form of organization (until all together we propose others); but
that which we feel and see has to do with the authoritarianism which is “used” when
lacking a public political consensus which prioritises subjects. I furthermore believe that a
young democratic history has not yet been able to modify an authoritarian national,
social, familiar, school history.
Furthermore, if we think of the formation made up of the scholastic (institutional –
academic) and life experience of each subject (experiences, capabilities, and attitudes) it
is very diverse in each leader. We get an updating just before the ascension contest and
in many cases with few possibilities to build up a communication to overcome the
unidirectional system and make way for other topics which are not those that will be put
forth. Therefore it is impossible to think at that moment of an instance where collective
knowledge can be generated.
And there are the diverse district training programs. The majority of these are to do with
general matters regarding disciplines, emerging or new subjects, or measures, but they
do not address the particulars of each context or improve our training to work with
children, as for example the vulnerable citizenry.41
In spite of the efforts and the
attempts from some of the supervisions, it is very difficult to measure the impact on
teachers as there is no give and take to modify practices. Many areas end up being a
catharsis of all the accumulated bad feelings.
We cannot leave aside either, some of the traits that appear in the people under our
control (and more than one): self-sufficiency, despotism, paternalism, lack of
enthusiasm, and volunteerism; etc., which impact in diverse manners inasmuch on the
teachers as on students and on their families. 42
Do these traits ease or hinder the construction of a paradigm for the protection of rights?
It is hard to think of an environment where the word keeps moving and collective
knowledge is generated if these approaches predominate; because the efforts
undertaken, the time consumed and the feelings brought about alienate the possibility of
reflecting upon the practice. Nonetheless, many leading teams ruminate over the working
conditions and on how these invalidate their job, both because of the children and their
particular situations. And they launch every possible effort to make room for reflection.
41 Observation No 13: 4th heading Legal Analysis from art. 19 – Art. 19.
42 See more on this subject in Del Franco, A. & Zeballos, E. (2006): “From home cultures to democratic
cultures”, Presented at the XI Pedagogic Congress: “A school where the weavers of words are the
makers of the world” – Secretariat of education, U.T.T., CTERA, CTA.
21

But… should the facilitation of listening skills, reflection and collective decision-making be
left in the hands of a few individual attempts? Wouldn’t we, then, be working from
volunteerism?
Will service training on how to build areas for discussion and dialogue be necessary? It is
also evident that we lack legal training on human rights. This could have something to do
with knowing about legislation where students are recognised as subjects, systems for
the protection of rights, protocols that tell us how to act within the law,43
etc.
Could reflection be promoted within the different formation proposals, such as relevant
strategy?
How could we implement this in our daily life at school?
Wouldn’t it be necessary, in the first place, to take a general look at our students as
subjects?
How to favour (or generate) then, a school culture which would make the children ever
more visible…both as social and political subjects?
43 Observation No 13: 4th heading Legal Analysis from art 19, Art. 42 point b 1 b.
22

23
SECOND PART
SECOND PART

The (incipient) construction of the paradigm for the
integral protection of rights in the daily life of the school.
The experience of instituting areas for taking part by means of
discussion and reflecting on decision taking.
At “Indira Ghandi” school, in these five years, we have institutionalised diverse areas
where the word circulates: work get -togethers between teachers, students´assemblies,
meetings and exchange workshops with the students, meetings with parents, etc., in an
attempt to contribute a way of democratic life.
Groups which make up the teaching community change every year due to transfers,
becoming tenured, retirements, reincorporations, etc., situations which arise for diverse
reasons. Notwithstanding this we try to keep these areas over time with the intention of
constructing by means of dialogue, reflection, discussion, collective knowledge and
building up an institution which can channel its activities towards education.44
Generally, meetings are planned with the commitment of the teams. At these we take
into account working moments in small groups and with the group as a whole, many
times it is a brain storming moment, giving importance, furthermore, to registering those
moments.
The construction of a democratic form of life as is mentioned here, requires, as Apple
explains, “a creative process to find ways of extending and developing democratic values.
Nevertheless, this process isn’t simply a participative conversation over something; it is
more a case of guiding towards an intelligent and reflexive consideration of the problems,
the events and the questions that arise in our collective lives”.45
I would like to socialise
some experiences we have had in School N° 11 by means of recounting some of the
areas which follow this course.
44 See the Curricular Design for a Primary School- Government of the City of Buenos Aires-2004.
45 Apple, M.W. & Beane J.A: op. cit page 34.
24

1. The construction of the school project
One of these areas is the School Project (Institutional Project), in which all the personnel
are involved, where in a systematic manner it is reflected upon, discussed, planned, and
decisions are taken, and collectively evaluated. This is “a form of looking at, thinking
about, and acting collectively in the institution. It is the conjunction of institutional
agreements on the school we have and the school we want. It is a way of shaping the
school”.46
In our school, from the first moment, we work on orality. In the diagnosis,
we recognised the difficulties in its development as a central problem, and that the
causes for this could be multiple. At first sight, not without prejudice… we centralised
everything on the characteristics of the environment to which our pupils belong, on
issues such a low stimulation, few cultural experiences (from our western point of view),
the migratory movements, the situations of oppression in which they live, etc.
Later we started to analyse how much our attitudes towards them are an influence in the
development of orality, as also the experiences we give them and we began to realize
the need to revise the value of the cultures that our students and their families bring. We
decided then to focus on this area through our daily work, spreading out all the possible
networks.
After an intensive work session we defined orality as “the capability of being able to
express ideas, feelings, opinions, emotions, demands, in a spontaneous manner by
means of the WORD. Also supporting, arguing, discussing, confronting ideas, inferring,
reaching conclusions, and explaining, in each instance that the teacher, or others,
propose. This tool appears in all that is related to the school. Firstly in the contents
named tasks of the speaker and of the listener, of the reader, and of the writer acquiring
relevance in all the areas that are crossed, and its development is exceedingly important
for life within and out of the school and related to CITIZENSHIP.
By means of orality, then, the children not only expand their possibilities for
communication, but also reflect on the uses of the language and they learn to value the
diversity it offers. They become authoritative speakers when they stand up to speak
and are listened to, to demand when they are not respected, to put forth their ideas and
argue in favour of or against a given position, to communicate their decisions, to petition.
As listeners they are attentive to different points of view, listen to and infer that which is
not expressed, become valid speakers, etc. This contributes to their formation as
students and develops their critical judgement, and it allows them to have the tools by
which they can take part in diverse experiences, inasmuch scholastically as extra
scholastically which constitutes democratic life.47
46 Ministry of Education of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Directorate of Curriculum and
Teaching, Directorate of Educative Evaluation (2008): “Orientations for elaborating the School Project”.
47 The Ministry of National Education: “Nucleus of Priority Education”.
25

It is important here to identify, as well, the place that writing had and has in the life of
the students. Although the mission that has been historically assigned to school has
been to teach literacy (commonly understood as reading and writing), this was not
sufficient as it did not guarantee rights. Today we can think that when we speak of
literacy we mean to say “communicating with others with social practices, knowledge and
culture”;48
and we can think of writing as inseparable from orality, and a form of
essential communication. We recognise that for a full citizenship life, it is necessary to be
not only a speaker but also a competent writer, and forming them is one of the many
objectives of the school.
“To value orality as a fundamental tool in the construction and circulation of knowledge”
was (and is) our institutional objective. This will be achieved in the future working from
those four outlines of action, following the indications of the current educational
policies.49
a) Implementing curricular and extra -curricular workshops where, from the point of
view of orality and specific strategies, other aspects of the children are put into play.
b) Institutionalization of areas for reflection and discussion with decision taking,
essentials for the consolidation of the subjects. Meetings, round tables of interchange,
course meetings, strategies for better communal living and citizenship construction
are used.50
c) Interrelationship between areas and curricular subjects, as a part of this integral
formation51
based on agreements and giving answer to needs and interests.
d) Systematization of orality, tied in with its learning and systematic application, putting
it into play in every classroom situation.
In all of the aforementioned School Project52
“Words: bridges which unite” family
participation is taken into account, strengthening the links of trust.53
48 Guerschberg, K (2012): “Legal Literacy”, in Seda J.A. (coordinator): “Diffusion of Rights and Citizenship
in the school”, Chapter 8, Eudeba, Buenos Aires, page 140.
49 Ministry of Education; Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Directorate of Curriculum & Teaching,
Directorate of Educational Evaluation (2008): “Orientations for elaborating the School Project”.
50 In the first two years we continued with a project on Mediation, which after evaluating it as well as the
external teams in charge, we decided to leave it without effect. It is worth pointing out that in the years
in which it was implemented no register on the part of the professional teams or of the teachers taking
part was made.
51 “In the teacher work shop, the integral formation questioned what happens with the person, with their
communication, and with their emotions. Reflecting on emotions allows for understanding contexts,
problematic situations, conflicts of rights, alternative actions or the links of trust with the students are
evaluated” Daniel Lopez. Op. cit.
52 More data on our Blog and a printed version at the disposal of those who want it.
53 Lopez, D: “Links of Trust”, a speech given at the VIIth Educational Congress: The school confronted by
a crisis in teaching, Institute of Formation and Investigation. “Maestro Cacho Carranza”, Secretariat of
Education, Teachers Union, CTERA-CTA, 2002.
26

Each community has its place in our institution; its history, its objects, its traditions, its
culture. As Apple says “our job is to reconstruct dominant knowledge and use it to help
those who have less privileges in society”.54
Hence, on returning a voice to those
members of society who have been left aside, such as the families who attend this
school, we believe a lot can be done.
Here I would like to point out that as from five years ago we have made a special place
for the experiences which have families as protagonists. At meetings, which initially we
organise in the months of October and November and which are extended, as teachers
see fit, to other times in the year, they share their knowledge with the children as for
example making musical instruments, teaching the cultivation of rice, recipes of typical
dishes, the use of a loom, woodwork, amongst others. They have also participated in a
festival with traditional music and dances they have organized themselves. We have also
had a mother teaching Guaraní (one of the official languages of Paraguay) in year 4
throughout 2012 and 2013.
I believe it is complex to achieve an open community school, and doubly so with
communities where the groups which make it up are not considered “good or normal
families” (in this type of remarks you can see the validity of the tutelary paradigm), as
the different causes fear, amongst other issues, which crops up when faced with this
situation. I support Silvia Bleichmar’s idea of a family when she says: “in the measure in
which there is an adult capable of looking after a child or a child capable of being looked
after by an adult, we have a family”55
which does not conform to the classical idea of a
family
In the particular case of this school I think this view is essential; basically because we
are committed to the subjects. When we sometimes say that the families do not get
involved with the learning of their children, in fact we do not believe that many people
who come from the more “neglected” groups have ever been carriers of knowledge, so
how can they take part in something with which they do not identify? How can they help
when they themselves have lived in a state of abandonment? Insofar as the word takes
on value and they begin to experience links of trust with other members of the school
and to experience the environment of the school as belonging to them, they begin to feel
that they have more to give and that they can be important to the group. This is the
basis for the construction and dissemination of knowledge. If we ask ourselves: is it
enough to come just once to share their knowledge? The answer is obviously no.
We also learnt that holding fairs to show what each community can do has more to do
with a multicultural approach (diverse isolated cultures) and not an intercultural attitude
. Families have to be a part of the daily school life and to participate from their own place
as subjects who belong to a family and a social group. There are no magical recipes!
54 Lopez, D: “Links of Trust”, a speech given at the VIIth Educational Congress: The school confronted by
a crisis in teaching, Institute of Formation and Investigation. “Maestro Cacho Carranza”, Secretariat of
Education, Teachers Union, CTERA-CTA, 2002.
55 Bleichmar, S.: op. cit, page 128.
27

In recent years the sub-projects have increased. One of the most important arises from
the need to improve coordination between grade/form teachers and curricular or special
ones (line N°3), which were lacking the ability to work together as a team and this was
creating ill feelings. As I see it, this difficulty arises due to questions linked to working
conditions, but mainly from not recognising the same formative values in the different
areas. That is to say that the school privileges some areas over others. Thus, the
challenge was to discuss the problems and make proposals based on equality, something
that was not and is not easy as it requires revisions, evaluations, and new agreements
repeatedly. Daniel Lopez tells us: “the declared equality has nothing to do with equality
as an ethical obligation to listen to the other”.56
To generate then, a construction within
the school on equal rights is a daily challenge. That is how “Memory and Identity” arose
in the year of the Bicentenary, a project that banked heavily on the integral formation of
the students.
Memory and Identity
In a well-known expression we could say that memory is a combination of memories
which serves to make sense of a given place, a given time, personal and collective
histories, etc. But it is important and enlightening to know and take into account the
words of Pilar Calveiro57
when she says that by exercising our memory, the present and
the actions we take at that point are revealed to us as a construction. Therefore,
exercising our memory allows us to convert it into an act that makes it possible to modify
our present and decide how to construct the future.
Similarly, we understand identity as a form of defining a category of being which is
constructed in a social relationship of an individual or a group with other individuals or
groups58
, and we pledge through this project to fortify that construction.
We planned to address the issue from personal and collective histories, and within each
one of them, the school, the neighbourhood, the nation, the world, working on objects,
anecdotes, experiences of our students and their families. During the first year all our
teachers were involved in this project as also many professionals belonging to
“Programmmes and Projects, as for example: “Espacio para la Memoria” (Room for
memory) with workshops on Human Rights, “Buenos Aires under the Tiles” where
children discovered the secrets of the City, and “Legislators for a Day”, where the
children from the year 7 presented projects for the re-establishment of the gas supply to
the school. We had exchanges with the private school “Escuela para el Hombre Nuevo”,
(School for The New Man), with whom we shared a first time visit to ECuNHi, “Cultural
Environment for our Children” the ex – ESMA “Naval Petty Officers School of Mechanics”
to commemorate Memorial Day for Truth and Justice, as also their Annual Reading Fair.
These projects allowed for all kinds of experiences not only for the children but also the
57 Calveiro, Pilar, former detained and missing person from E.S.M.A., PhD in Politic Science who resides in
Mexico.
58 Gysling, J. (1992): “Professors: An analysis of their social identity”, Santiago, CIDE.
28

teachers, contributing to our formation.59
As a closure, a Museum was held; this final
work began when each member of the institution searched for a meaningful object, then
an index card had to be prepared with the data of the object and its history. Later, during
a specially prepared exhibition, which was first held in the classrooms and later in
common areas, it was shown to the rest of the school. To everybody's surprise, the first
student to bring an object was the one with the most difficulties in coexistence: he
brought his first shoes. Objects which were brought to the Museum were fluffy toys,
balls, little boxes, family photos, newspapers etc. One year 2 student moved us all: he
had lost his mother the previous year, and he chose to bring his parents´ wedding photo
and said he knew about this photo as his mother had told him about it. The younger
students were taken aback by the fact that we, adults, would still keep our most
significant objects: a doll, the first ruler, the favourite card, etc. They approached the
adults and asked several questions after the presentations: where did you take it from?
or who gave it to you? Were you given it when you were little? Where do you store it?
Here we can see how little children could make better sense of the time and how
meaningful an object can be for every one of us. The possibility of storing it,
independently of the age and life's circumstances. As could be foreseen, all the activities,
highly touching, contributed to consolidating the personal identity.
During the second year of its implementation we thought of bringing it closer to the
curricular guidelines. That is why we worked on personal, family and neighbourhood
identity, and that which was left to us by native peoples and immigrants. We studied in
depth the characteristics of South and Latin American identities. We carried out several
activities and experiences following the contents of each course. In an additional
undertaking we sought for the identity of our school by means of games, investigations,
memories and very moving testimonies from our former students which were recorded
in diverse manners and which we extend to everyone in the community, and this
produced an impact on the parents who have been bringing their children to “Indira” for
years.
I agree with Apple in that in the daily nature of the school “whilst a growing cultural
diversity exists, pressure is brought to bear to maintain the curriculum within the narrow
limits of the western cultural tradition”. 60
Nevertheless this does not mean disallowing
the need the children have to know the “official” contents by which they are guided as
they grow (as long as we do not change them) within the educational system.
Additionally, we have (and we should give) all the possibilities to add significance to
them.
59 Many of them continued in: “Legislators for a Day” throughout 2011, petitioning that the problems of
the gas be resolved, not only for us, but for other schools in the City as well, that bus stops be put up in
front of the school, requests that were chosen amongst other three to be addressed in the Legislature.
The last year (2012) they petitioned for the return of a cabinet of health specialists which was removed
when the Government of the City was changed, and this was also chosen. Since 2010 it continues to be
a part of The Reading Fair, and all of us taking part were delighted with its organization which is
common to other projects in this school.
60 Apple, M.W & Beane J.A.: op. cit, page 16.
29

Already in 2012 we considered that the most outstanding feature in the identity of our
institution is promoting rights. For this reason we decided to extend this formation, which
had started the previous year in year 7, to all the courses. We retrieved the work which
had been done with the students on Children´s Rights, initiating some students into the
subject61
and we broadened our span towards Systems for the Protection of Rights62
with
groups from the years 5, 6 and 7. In this period the participation of Omar, a Colombian
professor who accompanied the teachers voluntarily in some of the projects connected
with memory and centralised in reading, was outstanding. His commitment with children
and the public thing became manifest. We are very grateful for his generosity.
Over these years, one of the essential pillars of the school accompanying planning,
implementation, support, project productions as also the permanent generation of their
own projects, has been the school library with the great and committed help of the
librarians.
Furthermore for the fourth year in a row, we have had interchanges with youths from the
programme “Community Leaders” which belongs to the Ministry of Social Development of
the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, our neighbours “Puerto Pibes”, with whom
we work in play and recreation on these themes. And we agreed on an environment of
orality in the meetings as also carry out a joint evaluation of the project. This link came
about from the joint struggle with some of them in the 2009 defence of the site.63
Summing up: there are no possibilities of a neutral memory, every memory exercise has
political signs (or political – pedagogical). Furthermore the social identity is not only
circumscribed to the process of self-recognition, but it is also the complex result between
self-recognition and the recognition of what others do to us.64
In this case, in the work
we carry out together with the children, the memory exercise allows us to say who we
are, restate our identity and convert it into an act, that is to say to construct a personal
and collective plot which would give us enough force to carry out actions which would
allow us to modify the present and think of the future.
Every year there are different instances of construction in the School Project. And even
though we carry on working along the alignments set out, we set out to modify and
incorporate new projects in accordance with the follow-up and evaluations we carry out.
Generally, over the first days of work at the beginning of the school year, we converse,
propose and listen to proposals, incorporating the new ways of looking at a subject; we
work in groups; later we resume the issues in meetings with the personnel and we
always make adjustments or changes in cycle meetings, which allow us to meet up
weekly or fortnightly.
61 It is a supposition, many times, to think that the school teaches about the International Convention of
Children’s Rights. In our case we teach and/or we delve into rights such as the rights to identity, to have
a family, to have land, to not work, to play, to take part in, to be listened to, etc.
62 Decentralized Office for Attending to the Rights of Children and Adolescents – OAD – Boca –
Barracas, “Promotion Systems and Integral Protection of Boys, Girls and Adolescents in the City of
Buenos Aires” – Material Didáctico - 2012.
63 See under the title: “The areas of taking part in the community”.
64 Gysling, J: op. cit.
30

At mid-year we carry out an evaluation of the first stage, by means of discussion and
reflexion, with the expected tensions in any process of construction with others, as it is
important to recognise that “many times, teachers who are committed with democratic
education are in a position of conflict with the dominating traditions of schooling”65
and
these are very present in the representations of many teachers within the institutions.
Again, at the end of the year we go over and discuss what happened and we plan on new
roads to follow.
For me this experience of construction is new inasmuch as we have respected, revised,
improved and supported the proposed objectives over the past five years, because in my
prior scholastic experiences the “School Project” was changed each school year and it
was a job which by and large was exclusive to the leading teams.
Taking into account and without denying the cost caused by the permanent changes in
the teaching community (emotional, energetic, delayed achievements etc.), those of us
who have been here for many years believe that each colleague who goes round “Indira”
brings experiences which enrich us and enrich the project. Summarising, “School Project”
is the result of “hard work and commitment by real teachers”.66
65 Apple, M.W & Beane, J.A: op. cit., page 29.
31

2. Class Assemblies and Exchange Rounds
The most appalling incident which I witnessed when I started working at this school was
that the students, during break, picked up the garbage which they or other children had
thrown in the playground in exchange for “alfajores” (a traditional confection). In this
way they learnt the value of work and that for this work they got paid. There are
numerous stories of this kind where the students, apart from being passive receivers of
the orders and indications of the adults of the school, carried out diverse collaborative
tasks.
For thought: What does the depicted mean? What was instituted? What happened there
with children’s rights? What kind of collaboration is expected from the children of the
school?
Without leaving aside the reflection each one can make after this account, I can say that
a manner does exist for looking at the children as something incomplete, something
minor, that as yet are not (and that they respond to the tutelary paradigm in which we
were formed); and who will in the future be complete thanks to the intervention of the
adults (this is our hope). This viewpoint makes them invisible. Infancy and child are
comparable only in a general sense. Today we know that there are “infancies” and for
each person it has different meanings. Categories are used in the plural: infancies,
adolescents, youths, because they give us a plural perspective. “These categories or
notions are historical and social constructions and go back to diverse and changing
contexts”.67
The situation of the children today
Students of year 7, for example, have been working on “orality” and have taken part in
many projects where they had and have a leading role, as can be seen in the description
of the project “Memory and Identity” and in other examples which have appeared in this
chronicle. I firmly believe that in this process a device under the name of “Class
Assemblies” in the 2nd
cycle and “Exchange Rounds” in the 1st
cycle had a lot to do with
it.
67 Carli, Sandra: op. cit.
32

Taking into account the difficulties which could be seen and in parallel with the
construction of the “School Project”, I proposed that all the teachers should debate on
the possibility of instituting an environment where the students could make their voice
heard68
in the decision making discussions. The teachers, after giving their ideas and
what they knew on the diverse devices, which some of them had already carried out in
other schools, decided to carry out the meetings. I then handed out material to each
teacher so that they could know more about this.69
I would like to point out that the use
of this tool for the construction of democracy was strongly driven directly from the
management in the Secretariat of Education of the City as from 1983.70
From my own
personal point of view I was very moved because I knew the possibility of change that
the strategy entails and I could imagine the impact this would bring about in the children.
At later meetings and after exchanges on how we foresaw the effect of the
implementation in this school, we thought of the device as a strategy that would allow us
to know the difficulties of communal living and as from this point forward we could think
together of possible solutions to the problems.
As for organization, we establish a day and time to carry them out and we plan them as
from what emerges from the groups. The students select the topics and take decisions on
who should be the coordinator and who would take down the records. At the meetings
there exists a moment of collective or individual reflection and recording the outcome of
the discussions.
The meeting is in an environment where through the exercise of listening and speaking,
the children begin to recognise themselves and consolidate their personal identity as well
as placing themselves as subjects. Taking part in these environments of discussion with
decision taking from a young age helps to generate an autonomous personality,
recognition and respect towards the other person and at the same time allows us to
jointly construct a positioning which will probably contribute to the structure of a
collective identity. During the meeting concerns are brought up as also conflicts or
situations on daily life which make communal living complex and teachers and
coordinators help to carry the problem and we try to assist them in taking a position by
means of analysis, reasoning and debate etc. suggesting possible interventions and roads
to take to change the situation.
Listening can be an arduous task if you are not used to it, but it allows for revision of
your own ideas on the world, reaffirm them, modify them, and accept that there can be
different and improved points of view and to take a new look at what is known. To be
listened to allows you to say “who I am”, “what I want” and “what I think”. The exercise
of this right generates conditions in the school and in other areas to construct a
“common” base for a democratic system.
68 Act 114/98 “Integral Protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents” 12/98 Legislation of the
Government of the City of Buenos Aires – Art. 17.
69 Volpi de Chamorro, M.I. & Golzman G. (1993) “Round Tableo f Interchange, meeting and school
council. Is taking part taught?, in Solves, H. (compiler): The School, a daily utopia”, PAIDOD, Questions of
Education, Page 127.
70 For example the documents of the Secretariat of Education and Culture, Directorate of the Area of
Primary Education No 13 Teaching Orientation, (1991) “The Grade Board”, Management of Pastorino.
33

Respecting the basic rules for interchanges, we attempt for the children to express
themselves taking care not to make a cultural imposition, and observing their right to
intimacy, that is to say that they do not feel obliged to tell us what they do not want to,
and when they run the risk of being exposed by a given topic they will be protected.
Daniel Lopez tells us: the right to be listened to and to be able to express their opinions
should have the support of institutional venues in which they can pool their differences,
maintaining confidentiality in the affairs that could lead to processes of intimidation”.71
We can hereby say that it is expected that the students can inhabit the school72
, that is
to say that they can express themselves, choose and hold an active position. There are
comings and goings in the experience. Considering our historical teaching formation with
authoritarian streaks in the majority of cases, it is complex to maintain democratic
postures all the time (this can be seen in the organization, in the intervention of some
teachers, in the dynamics during the implementation of the method, etc.), and the follow
up of the coordinators is complex. On the other hand, the majority of children are not
used to these spaces, as much within as out of the school and establishing links of
confidence73
with the teachers and companions to be listened to taking a positioning is
not an easy task. In spite of this the results can be seen. Furthermore, we have meetings
three times a year per course (generally years 4 to 7), where we deal with issues which,
though they have been discussed in other devices, are difficult to modify as for example
those linked to lunch breaks, in the dining room, amongst others or those that require
urgent collective decisions such as modifying the established norms, for example the use
of a play area. Round Table Interchanges with the younger children, mainly those of year
1, have diverse shades as much in their organization as in their dynamics according to
the moment and the situations through which the children are going, as much in the
personal as in groups; nevertheless, there are anecdotes on these moments of
interchange which show the positive side (and which, possibly, further on we will show by
means of a publication with testimonies).
A year back, we dedicated part of a Working Day of Reflexion to comparing the records
of what happens in meetings, which we carried out at different times with teachers and
children. They turned out to be very diverse. As from this revision, we agreed on what
could not be missed out on this device and we built up a document on guidelines to take
into account for its organization and development. We shared and discussed this with
every new teacher and always within the framework of our school project. It is important
that more than one teacher should be present at the meetings, to go improving the
method and make it more efficient each time.
Citizenship is built up since one is very small as a form of relationship, and for this the
school has an undelegated responsibility, as it is a central environment for exercising it.
This device, amongst other strengths, contributes to this construction without a doubt.
71 Lopez, D: Op. cit.
72 Dente, L & Brener, G: Op cit.
73 Lopez, D: Op cit.
34

3. Room for community sharing
Community involvement is essential in every process of citizenship construction. In this
book I would like summarise two instances in which the community played a major role
in the defence of the school and of the public thing and they left significant learning in
both.
I recall a reflection that I had some time after these two issues when I tried to explain to
myself what I felt: can a school headmaster, with a specific formation and many
prejudices “make way” for everyone in decision making? It’s difficult but it is possible.
This institution had its kitchen out of use and the whole establishment was
without gas from 2007, until the middle of April 2012.
Some examples of community involvement when faced with this are: the petitions made
before the Defence Council for the People of the City of Buenos Aires by the Cooperative
Association and all the parents, asking for help with this problem (2008 and 2009); the
presentations made by the parents before the Educational Committee of the Legislature
during two of their weekly sessions (2010), circulating notes reporting the situation, the
discussions with civil servants in charge of the issue and the letter from the students to
Mauricio Macri, Mayor of the City of Buenos Aires.
We regard this as the result of the processes of discussions amongst the children and
adults of the school. Perhaps, for many, the strategies laid out do not appear to be
mobilizing and some may even object that that it is “common currency”. Nevertheless, in
some communities it is not. These processes showed the possibility of being listened to
(individually or as a group) and to be able to listen to others at the collective debates
where there were options, strategies and procedures to take with the problem; to learn
diverse text formats so as to be able to prepare their own and to know what sort of
answer to expect; it is important to clarify that many parents only knew the basic
rudiments of writing, nevertheless some have overcome this which they considered a
hurdle for communicating, holding elections on what they wanted to say and how to do it
with the help of more experimented parents; to set forth the problems to civil servants,
and in the news, etc. It should be remembered that “saying and taking part in is not
taken lightly, rather it has to do with the internal possibilities of each individual, who at
the same time is conditioned by the context and the reality in which they live”74
Therefore, in this path there were moments of difficulties and differences. Today we
know that the promotion of tools for knowing, utilizing and claiming community rights is
positioned in a different manner.75
In the first years of the struggle they managed to get
three resolutions from the Defence Council for the People of the City of Buenos Aires,
which the government of the City ignored. In March 2012, the parents who live in the
quarters which make up the Villa 31, cut the highway into the City demanding buses so
that their children could get to school. Simultaneously, they demanded that the
government attended to all the problems of “Indira Ghandi” School (gas, leaking roofs,
broken toilettes, etc.). From this moment on, the meetings between the parents and civil
74 Cesca, P & Denkenberg, A. (2010): “Political Knowledge”, Diploma in Curriculum and Scholastic
Practices in Context, FLASCO, Buenos Aires.
75 See more in ACIJ, Civil Association for Equality and Justice (2008): “Proposal for community action –
Strategies for exercising rights”, CALC, Centre for Community Legal Help.
35

servants of the Ministry of Education have not ceased. The capacity they had for holding
discussions and negotiations was surprising, even when living under great tension, as the
time when they were in a meeting and they were surrounded by the Metropolitan Police
dressed in civilian clothing, as one of the civil servants explained, just in case the parents
caused disturbances...
Finally, a bus from the 45 line was assigned to the community for the daily transport of
the children. The parents are still waiting for the judge´s decision to assign school buses
(according to the parents many school buses leave the Villa 31 but none come to this
school).76
Nevertheless, in only two days the Government of the city of Buenos Aires
sorted out a problem which had been ignored for five years: the gas supply as also other
matters which had to do with the deterioration of the school building, and all this thanks
to the collective stand.
In second place I’d like to mention another important incident. In April 2009, part of
“Puerto Pibes”, a dependency of the Ministry of Social Development of the City,
which is alongside our school and with whom we share playing fields, was
ceded to the Metropolitan Police (a force which was being created at that time). It
came as a big surprise to the community that they were planning to occupy the playing
fields and that the legislators were showing interest in occupying the school as well.
After several months of struggle on the part of the teachers of Indira, the students and
their families,77
as also colleagues from other state and union organizations, deputies,
members of the press, and other social organizations, we managed to get the
Metropolitan police, who were to make up the new force who had as their head “Fino”
Palacios, to leave. During the time that the occupation lasted, we took measures such as
demanding to know what the real destiny of the playing fields would be, we mobilized
and petitioned that they be removed and that “Puerto Pibes” be returned to its original
status, a place for the integral formation of children and adolescents. I will explain in
more detail what the sentiments were at that moment in my paper “Umbilical Cord”.78
To
exercise, as what happened here, the right to be informed and the right to petition, as
also to take part in (considering taking part as “the ability to collectively have an impact
on the decisions which affect daily life, analyse problems, articulate demands before
public authorities, propose, plan, implement and evaluate solutions, etc.”) 79
is a lot of
work.
76 In December of the same year the Directorate of Primary Education stated that (for the third
consecutive year) school buses would be assigned on the condition that families living in the 31 enrol
their children in the D.E 1, the closest school to their domiciles, totally ignoring the thirty years of history of
this school with the community, as well as the cultural patrimony it has. Without a doubt we can think
that this is a stripping of the Indira.
77 We can include meetings with civil servants in the school, with an obvious tension between them and
the teachers, as when the latter left the meeting as they did not recognise their authority; meetings
between members of the community; petitions made before the authorities on behalf of the children
and their parents.
78 See more in www.ute.org.ar Formation – Pedagogical Congresses – Umbilical Cord – 2009.
79 Sirvent, M.T. (1994) “Adult Education: investigation and taking part” Libros del Quirincho, Buenos Aires.
36

In this case it has also signified, with not a little cost, to establish links of trust taking the
word of the community as the authorised word and consider the decisions as a result of
the processes of discussion, as also awareness of the necessity of jointly taking part in
the transformation of situations that infringe rights.80
It is important to take into account that in the first years of this government the school
lost, without getting any official explanation, services such as those related to health
which would come weekly and fortnightly from the CESAC 12 and 1 (educational
psychologists and psychologists) as also the last year students that were loaned by the
College of Odontology, who practised odontological prevention in the children (and for
which the school built two consulting rooms which in three years could not be
inaugurated). I could give numerous examples which would exceed the framework of this
paper, on actions which show a lack of interest in the more vulnerable sectors of the
population.
The defence of the playing fields takes place every day and in this the processes of
consolidation in the areas of dialogue, discussion, participation in and the defence of
rights are very important.81
It is essential then that the school “authorise and favour
forms of organization and expression which contribute to producing speeches and
political actions”82
for the necessary and essential defence of that which is public, that
which belongs to everyone, that in the current times in the City, as never before is being
threatened, attacked and plundered.
80 Lopez, Daniel: op cit.
81 ACIJ: op. cit
82 Cesca, P. & Denkberg, A.: op. Cit.
37

4. Support Teams
I would like to recognise here the interventions made by the team of Institutional
Support of the Institute of Formation and Investigation “Maestro Cacho Carranza” of the
Trade Union of the Educational Workers of the City of Buenos Aires83
in different manners
as from 2008 to date as a result of situations which gave rise to violent conflicts.
Some of the questions we asked when faced with possible intervention from outside
teams:
• Is there a “record” on the part of the teachers that many times we need help from
others?
• How are they received when they arrive at the school?
• Do we believe that the sole intervention of specialists can modify adverse situation?
• What types of interventions are needed?
• Do the interventions of the support teams have to be systematic for the situations to
be modified?
Reflecting on these methods I can say that without a doubt that accepting an
intervention has to do to a great extent with the trust and knowledge in the institution to
be able to accompany this measure. Many times in desperation or for “trying out” what
they offer us, interventions which are not appropriate are accepted or promoted.
Furthermore, at this moment, there is a proliferation of offers of teams inasmuch from
the Ministry of Education (who work under contracts) as also from private institutions
who send in their proposals to the schools.
In this experience, confidence was generated as from sharing viewpoints on the children
and adults who make up the community as subjects with rights and after a process of
joint knowledge, reflections and discussions.
The support team of Cacho Carranza and their interventions:
2008. They worked with the executive committee, to discuss how to look jointly at the
institution, as we had different points of view and in some cases opposing views; with the
teachers and syllabus on coexistence of antagonistic cultures: between teachers –
between students and teachers – etc.; I refer to hegemonic and dominant cultures,
which try to homogenise thoughts and feelings, in contrast to diverse and plural cultures
(workshops in small group conferences).
2009. We initiated the project “Grow without Fights” with the children, working on
situations of violence generated within the school in a response to the murder of an ex-
student in the neighbourhood; with the teachers, mainly, on the same issues so as to
know more about the students as also about ourselves and to think of strategies for
change. Between all of us we created interviews for the parents and strategies for better
co-existence (two discussion groups, with fortnightly meetings with each one).84
83 This team of specialists has been supporting the work of school teachers at initial, primary, secondary
and special education in the treatment of diverse problems which appear in daily life for ten years.
84 More details in: Group of teachers who investigate from the school (2010), "Exercise the right to be
listened to”. Cordoba, author’s paper.
38

2010. Teacher training outside school hours on “The Right to be Listened to” (CFP#14).
2011. A work of reflection and discussion on the practice with the executive committee.
An account of what happened in 2012.85
It is important to emphasise the work done with the support team. On this occasion and
as from April we worked with the coordination of Daniel Lopez.
We begin with the different problematic situations which crop up in the school: situations
of violence86
in which some of our students were involved with other children or
teachers. In the institutions which take in children who come from families or groups
whose rights have been violated: in education, health, home, healthy eating, care,
recreation etc., these symptoms generally recur as manifestations of pain, anger, feeling
sick, fear, as there is no other way to channel so much neglect. I agree with the fact that
“we have to do away with the myth that violence is the product of poverty. Violence is
generally the product of two things: on the one hand the resentment of promises not
kept and on the other the lack of a perspective for the future”87
Besides, many times, we,
the people who conform the school, reinforce this unease by means of generalised
social and cultural practices which tolerate violence.88
For all these reasons it was and is
of great importance to get this support and build up new points of view on what is
happening, so as to be able to evaluate new strategies. Mainly, to practice the right to be
listened to in education.
In the first Workshop on Reflection (now under another name) proposed by the Ministry,
we decided to start off with these issues, which worried us so much, and handle them in
a more systematic manner. Each teacher stated their worries; we worked with concepts
linked to violence, as also our place and responsibility as “adult caregivers”.89
Probably
for many it sounds like the obvious, but the subject of care is so naturalized that we do
not really take it in and with all the responsibilities it implies.
This is why we jointly read and reflected on the Resolution 655 from the Board of
Children and Adolescents of 2007, a protocol that is in force and which we have to follow
in the event of witnessing or finding out about an act of violence in which the victims are
our students. At this meeting we decided to start a campaign in which no child should be
the victim of violence.90
85 For the first time in my daily work, systematically, and in this text I try to take into account the
Convention of Children’s Rights and their development. I consider a key part to take the observation as
an element which points the transformation of daily violence towards the full applicability of rights.
86 These are all forms of damage or abuse be it physical or mental, carelessness or negligent treatment,
ill treatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse. Convention on the Rights of Children, Committee
for the Rights of Children, Observation No 13, “Rights of the child not to be the object of any form of
violence” article 19, paragraph 1.
87 Bleichmar, Silvia: op. cit.
88 Observation No 13 (2011), Heading IV.
89 Observation No 13 (2011), Heading IV Legal Analysis of article 19 – article 33.
90 Observation No 13 (2011).
39

It was suggested, firstly, to know more about what was happening with the children and
to be able to talk to them; that they should be able to tell in drawings and writing “what I
do not like them to do to me at school…in my house) and establish relations. This work
allowed us to reflect together on care as a primary responsibility for adults in charge of
the children, adult carers, as also on the obligations that the State has in the protection
of the rights of subjects and groups and which they do not comply with, this being the
first and foremost infringement in causing situations of violence.
With the work under way, we were able to see that taunting, hitting, screaming, scare
tactics and other issues related to bullying appeared in the drawings. We shared the
drawings to see what sentiments were transmitted. We worked on these difficulties after
meetings and round tables, always respecting the right to intimacy of each one of the
children.
The same work was carried out with teachers by circulating a notebook to write in, not
from the complaint but as a way of saying who we are. The other person is presenting
me with who they are ... it joins us to know what we do not like, it is a way of expanding
our emotional universe…. (paraphrasing Daniel Lopez).
We also planned meetings with the parents. In the first meeting the coordinator went
over what the children had expressed. The adults showed their expectations with regard
to this campaign and is small groups constructed on posters what they considered was
looking after their children. Their positions went from confidence in the strategy of
teaching to mistrust of the whole sharing process.
In a Cycle Meeting we, the teachers, worked on strategies which we were implementing.
It is important, we learnt, to intervene in order to modify things, but we also asked
ourselves: what is teacher intervention according to legality? Since we have the right to
say what we think but not to intervene under any circumstance. It was also important to
address the causes of what goes on with the children to propose integrated and not
fragmented strategies.91
On that same day Daniel Lopez carried out an intervention in
year 3, a group that was showing the largest proportion of violence amongst themselves
at that moment. He suggested that they should reflect on “hitting” and the feelings that
this produces to them and he asked the children to give explanatory answers to diverse
questions.
How to intervene so as to avoid the repetition of fights? Aiming at their keeping a record
of repeated situations, which would take them away from work. He provided guidelines
for the students for some strategies so that the situations would not be repeated.
40

We had a meeting over a working lunch; that day they were coming to fumigate the
playing fields and the building against insects and classes were being suspended; for this
reason the leading team together with the support team had planned a several - hour
meeting in another location. Finally the meeting had to be suspended due to rain and the
children came to school. Nevertheless, it was urgent that we dealt with some issues and
the meeting was finally held. The teachers set forth some of the situations they went
through with the children and in which they felt, or were not convinced that the
strategies that were carried out were sufficient or appropriate. We checked the
agreements: as from the beginning of the campaign we had agreed that we would always
chat with the students as “carers”, intervening so that there was some teaching; that we
would keep a record of the proceedings which we would read to the children; in other
cases each child would write their own account of what happened and we would chat
over it. Furthermore, recording that the children were and are listened to has to do with
the fact that they are ensuring their “guarantees”. 92
We talked with the students so that they would begin to commit themselves to
prevention and that there would be NO REPETITION of the events, as this inhibits the
capacity of thinking. In this way we handled the problem directly with them getting them
to reflect on the issues and take reparatory conducts.93
This is to fix, correct, repair….
prevent damage and to reflect on the words of Daniel Lopez.94
An example of this is the situation lived by a year 6 female student with a group of her
class mates: they complained of her reactions when confronted with their jokes. When
we asked what was happening the girl told us they spent their time bothering her, and
that was why she reacted violently, giving details of diverse situations. At that time, and
after chatting with the boys and giving them the chance to ask all the questions they
wanted, we reminded them also of what constitutes bullying and harassment, the
damage that it produces and the consequences it brings.95
We talked about the law and
we allowed them time to talk and reflect on this and the situations were never repeated.
In a second meeting with parents, many put forth their difficulties when dealing with
problems with their children, as also their worries on what happens at school and the
issues which are not solved. Some regarded this as a lack of a “firm hand…” and they
repeated that “this didn’t happen in the past” without being able to understand the
importance we give to our word and the sustained work linked to the school as a
protection system.
92 Law 114: op.cit.
93 Observation No 13 (2011), Heading IV Legal Analysis of article 19 – Article 33.
41

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