Social Representations of the pandemic and their implications for the schooling process of High School students

Abstract

This article aims to identify the social representations of high school students regarding the pandemic and its implications for the high school education process. We adopted the original approach of social representations. Using semi-structured interviews and metaphor induction, we developed a field study with 34 students enrolled in high schools in Recife-PE. The results revealed social representations marked by changes, adaptation, sadness and delay in education. Anxiety, sadness, missing school, relationships with family and friends were the feelings shared by the students. The symbolic analysis, through metaphors, validated the statements. Characterized as animals, plants or things, the students represent the pandemic with a period of idleness, stagnation and confinement. We confirm the value of the school as a space for social coexistence and learning for adolescents and young people, as well as the damage caused by social isolation, resulting from the pandemic, for student training.