This text describes one of the forms of constructing the School Failure of boys and girls in fundamental education. It is part of the results of an ethnographic study called "School failure: images of popular explanations about 'educational difficulties' among youths of rural and urban areas in the State of Rio de Janeiro". The research was carried out in two public schools. During four years of study, two 4th-grade classrooms, whose teachers collaborated voluntarily with the research, were observed. The class councils of all classes from both schools were also observed during two consecutive years through participative observation and video recording. At the class councils, the existence of an orchestration of teachers' speeches was observed, in which they would mutually reinforce their impressions about their pupils' results. Such orchestration was characterized by articulated statements interpolated by the group as a whole, constituting a final decision on the pupil's success or failure. The study revealed the vagueness and absence of academic assessment criteria, the latter being replaced by subjective evaluations about the pupil. What can be concluded from these observations is that the work of class councils makes pupils with educational difficulties vulnerable to the decisions of the council, favoring their failure and exclusion from fundamental education. It was also observed that video recording was essential to establish the analyses and conclusions presented here.
Ethnography; Educational exclusion; Class council; School failure; Fundamental education