Ideological aspects and power relations in the classroom: Perceptions of secondary school students

The goal of this study is to present a discourse analysis of interviews with students of secondary schools in Belo Horizonte (Southeast Brazil). Its focus is the ideological aspects and power relations present in the classroom. The theoretical framework is the contribution of Fairclough to the field of Critical Discourse Analysis. Ten students (four boys and six girls) of public and private secondary institutions have been interviewed. After transcribing the interviews, we selected quotations that address power relations in the classroom. Based on trends that we identified in the students' discourse, we propose the following categories: (a) role of the teacher; (b) assessment; (c) patterns of discursive interaction, (d) individualism. Thereis evidence of ambivalence in the students' discourse about power relations in the classroom. The intertextuality of the students' discourse points to a discourse of democratization at school and more egalitarian relations between teacher and students, as well as to a discourse of asymmetric power relations.