Results of a study on the repercussion of the experience of cycles on school organization and teacher's practices show that this experience sets school under a new logic. This article argues that the good performance of the cycled system requires changes which conflict with the school culture, the conception of time and space embedded in the serial school logic. The introduction of cycles transform the school into a space of tension and conflict. The study included a documental analysis and a review of the literature, a quantitative approach of the issue of cycles at national level through the assessment of background questionnaires by teachers at Saeb 2001 and a qualitative approach, fieldwork by means of observation, interviews and questionnaire in a public school in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, whose organization comprises four cycles throughout the nine years of middle school.
CURRICULUM; SCHOOL SYSTEMS; PROMOTION POLICIES; SCHOOL
