The objective of this research was to compare the social representations of adolescents in different school contexts (public and private) about the construction of their project of life. It involved 40 adolescents, male and female, aged 16 to 19 years. A semi-structured questionnaire for socio-demographic characterization and a semi-structured interview were used as instruments. The data were submitted to content analysis, with the support of the programme ALCESTE, automatic system of textual data analysis. The data obtained showed consensual representations about the project of life, as desires, marks, previsions and strategies. Nevertheless, the students of the public schools centered their representations in the necessity of social inclusion and improvement of life, while the pupils of private school objectified their representations on the difficulty related to the choice of the profession. It follows that there is the necessity of public politicies that allow similar conditions for the construction of projects of life in these different school contexts.
Adolescents; Life project; Social representations
