La experiencia escolar del alumnado de la ESO de adultos. Un viaje de ida y vuelta

Abstract

This paper analyzes the school experience of adult people that quit school without getting a Lower Secondary Education (ESO) degree. This paper analyzes what they say about their school days when minors and what they are experiencing as adult pupils in the so called Center for the Education of Adult People (CEPA). Work field is based on participant observation in classrooms in ten adult schools in the city of Madrid during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 academic years. On top of that, more than one hundred in-depth interviews with students of these schools were made. The analysis of the interviews allows for guessing the many difficulties these students confronted during their childhood and adolescence. Most of the interviewees talk about harsh situations as those related to family matters (divorces, deaths of parents and low levels of education and income), schooling in overcrowded classrooms or the fact of being an immigrant. Spanish economy has been able to thrive till the beginning of the economic crisis in spite of high levels of early school leaving rates. Nowadays, secondary education degree is the minimum educational degree to enter the labor market.