SCHOOL SUCCESS: CONCEPT, FACTORS AND STRATEGIES
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abstract
The Project "Beliefs, knowledge and practices of teachers" was developed as part of a multiple action
plan intended to address school failure, developed by the Intermunicipal Community of Terras de Trás
os Montes (CIM-TTM), Portugal. This article presents a part of the study devoted to its central theme:
school success. From the theoretical research carried out it was realized that there is a multiplicity of
"school successes", the explicitness of the concept in order to unveil the meanings that underlie the
various statements being rare [1]. In the project carried out, the meaning assigned to it is centered upon
the development of competences, seen according to the curriculum document The Profile of Students
Leaving Compulsory Education [2], as complex combinations of knowledge, skills and attitudes, which
children and young people should acquire as indispensable tools for exercising a full, active and creative
citizenship. This project involved as participants the leaders (school cluster directors, class headmasters
and curricular department coordinators) and the teachers of all levels and cycles of education of eleven
school clusters integrated in the region covered by the CIM-TTM. In the part of the study here presented,
group interviews were used with the leaders of each School group for data collection. For data analysis
we used content analysis and considered a priori defined categories and shaped by the theory:
meanings of school success, success factors and strategies to promote success.
As results of the study, in relation to the meaning, factors and strategies of success, the following were
highlighted: (i) relativity of the concept and some criticism of educational policies; (ii) association of the
concept with attaining positive grades and student progress; (iii) concept defined according to the profile
in the above-mentioned curriculum document; (iv) attention to the uniqueness of students; (v) indication
of personal factors (students' future prospects and expectations), family and social factors as promoters
of school success, and (v) indication of the educational policy on curricular flexibility as a favorable
framework for the implementation of support measures and individualized teaching that contribute to the
success of all students.
This work was supported by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Science and Technology
Foundation) within the scope of Project UIDB/05777/2020
