El fracaso escolar desde la perspectiva psicoeducativa: hacia una reconceptualización situacional

In this paper, we describe the role that the school has historically played in school failure. In this sense, we address the problem of considering school failure as a psycho-educative problem, and we propose to reconceptualize the at-risk students in terms of the relations that are established between different groups and the usual schooling conditions. We criticize the pathological and individualistic model of school failure from situational and interactionist perspectives, therefore showing how the interpretation of school failure changes when other considerations are included in the analysis. These considerations are related to school practices as specific cultural practices that create special regimes of activity. We will analyze these practices as practices that are specialized in finding outstanding performances and that introduce specific courses during the development.  As a final contribution to the discussion concerning school failure, we will systematize the definition of at-risk students, not in terms of subjective properties, but as the result of interaction with attributes of school activity, as it is organized in the school system.