Competência crítica em informação nas escolas ocupadas do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This research investigates, enlightened by Information Science, new information and education practices developed during the occupation of Rio de Janeiro state schools. The objective of this work is to understand the contribution of occupations to education through the concept of critical information literacy. Its specific objectives are: to map students' access to traditional school information spaces (library, computer room and science labs) before, during and after the occupation; to identify sources of information generated from the activities developed in the occupations; and to discuss the students' perceptions of the information conveyed by the media about the occupations. The theoretical framework includes authors who are grouped under the category of critical pedagogy, as well as others included in the category of information literacy, in addition to those that contribute with insights on critical theories and the concept of information regime. A qualitative approach was adopted that includes the ethnographic method, which inspired the exploratory phase of visits, the bibliographical research in order to define the theoretical reference and the semistructured group interview to evaluate gains and losses of the occupation movement. The results obtained by the analysis of the interviews show that access to informational spaces is still restricted, that the multiplication of information sources during the occupations contributed to enrich the learning process and that the general perception of the media was modified from the experience of occupation. It concludes that, in addition to the achievements of the movement such as access to some informational spaces, greater participation in school decisions through direct elections for headmaster and students’ guild, emergency funding, among others, practices developed during the occupations have made its organizers individuals more critical and better prepared for life-long learning.