Resumen

RUIZ MORON, Deyse  y  PACHANO, Lizabeth. The overage as a factor of segregation and exclusion. Rev. Ped [online]. 2006, vol.27, n.78, pp.33-69. ISSN 0798-9792.

This piece of research came out of our interest in comprehending the issue of elementary school level overage students in the county of Pampanito, Trujillo, in western Venezuela. This is an educational problem that may well go beyond the difference between the expected school grade age and the chronological age of students. This problem is usually associated with grade repetition and late entry into the school system, however, it can be said that it is deeply seated in some of the most devastating components of our school system: segregation and exclusion. To attain the objectives of our study, in which we tried to describe and interpret the school culture within a particular setting, an ethnographic approach was used in order to orient the gathering and the analysis of the data. Among the conclusions that were drawn are the following: school practices based on the notion that the school is a homogenizing, harmonious, and functional environment tend to classify in determined ways those behaviours that do not conform to such expectations. Related to these classificatory practices, the classroom may become a divided scenario where school behaviors are usually labelled as either «normal» or «abnormal» ones. These divisions and objectivations will have an influence on both individuals and on their relationships with others.

Palabras clave : overage students; Venezuelan education; school system; segregation; exclusion.