Working in the margins. Building the “Espacio de padres” at the School 6 D.E. 5º in the Villa 21-24 Barracas Buenos Aires – Argentina

Abstract

One of the conclusions from the fieldwork undertaken by us in 2008 in the villa 21-24 of the neighbourhood of Barracas, in Buenos Aires, confirmed the perception that school dropout / “falling out of school” is arguably the starting point of a trajectory of “social deterioration” among young people. In particular, it was shown that – among other things – an activity that we consider essential to mitigate this “fall” was missing: working with the students’ families to strengthen them in what may be useful for them toward supporting the schooling of youngsters. Here we describe the experience of the task that, building on this orientation, we carried out with the families of the students of the first middle school created in the villa, and it presents, while reflecting concrete experiences and situations, the process of developing a model of work bringing together school, families and community, as well as the results obtained in these eight years with respect to the strengthening of people, their bonds with each other and with the school, and the bond of the school with the community in which it is located.