Abstract

The objectives of this project included to make visible the contradiction between the culture expressed in the official curriculum of the educational system and culture that children from socio-economically poor areas bring and to determine ways to take benefit of the tensions arising from this contradiction in terms of learning. The project verifies that the teachers lack the educational-sociological formation that would allow them to understand the relationship that is established when an official program is applied, designing a stratified and culturally diverse population for an entire country avoiding the production of negative effects, and the way to strengthen complementary relationships. Teachers who participate in research processes not only increase performance but also give a more transcendent meaning to their profession. The experience of the project shows that when the teachers understand the cause of low learning and tensions in the classroom, expressed a great sense of relief at what was previously considered as a professional failure because they understood how to solve the contradiction from a dialectical vision of learning supported by meaningful learning and the vision of the student as a legitimate other. The dialectic relationship between the school culture and the cultural heritage with which the working class children arrive at school. By incorporating elements of their culture of origin into the educational process, the teacher values the students and implements reinforcement programs that strengthen the students’ identification with the school. At the same time, it is possible to apply the reinforcement theory, but this time in a broader sense, in order to strengthen the cognitive, socio-affective, and behavioral processes that allow a positive experience of the school learning relationship and the use of this knowledge in daily life (valuing the practical).