Abstract

PEREZ SANCHEZ, Carmen Nieves. School justice: experiences of secondary school students. Espac. blanco, Ser. indagaciones [online]. 2023, vol.33, n.1, pp.91-105.  Epub Feb 08, 2022. ISSN 1515-9485.  http://dx.doi.org/10.37177/unicen/eb33-344.

"It's not fair" is a common expression among adolescents when they want to refer to a situation experienced at school. However, despite the fact that it is a fairly used and common term, it contains different meanings; diversity of meanings that has to do both with who says it, how he says it and in what context. We trace the sense of what is fair for secondary school students, based on their experiences in the school institution. For this we have data (sample of 1219 male and female students) extracted from two questionnaires and focus groups, collected, in a correlative manner, during the last three years of ESO (compulsory secondary education in the Canary Islands, Spain). The results of this study show that the debate on school justice, either in terms of meritocratic equality or equity, is present and has been impregnated in the opinions and discourses of the students, clearly traversed by the particular situation in the academic hierarchy, by the social origin and type of institution.

Keywords : scholar justice; meritocracy; equality; school experiences.