School and Citizenship Education: Conceptions of citizenship, citizen education and the role of the school

This papers presents the results of a qualitative research, funded by the Government of Chile and the Universidad del Bio-Bio. The objective has been to study the conceptions and representations that about the Citizenship have diverse actors of municipal schools located in two regions of the south of the country. The empirical material that has served as the basis for the research has been 9 discussion groups held in a workshop, in the framework of an action research. The processing and further analysis of the information was done by categorical reduction with the assistance of the software ATLAS.ti 7. The initial questions that guided the discussion were aimed at investigating the conceptions that the different actors of the establishments had about what a citizen is, the training for citizenship and the role assigned to the School in its formation. The results indicate that in spite of the changes in the curriculum and the latest public policies introduced, among which the promulgation of a special Law stands out, the dimension of a citizen linked to rights and duties and a markedly national sense persists. Highlighting the link that the informants make with respect to human rights.