In this work we review Brazilian scientific publications between 2002 and 2012 on School Complaints, in order to critically analyze their main features and the aspects which are associated with generating a school complaint. We developed a systematic search in three bibliographic databases (SCIELO PEPSIC and the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations) using the two key words in Portuguese ‘queixa escolar’ and ‘queixas escolares’. Initially 35 publications were found and, after pre-analysis, 21 papers remained: 13 articles and 8 master’s theses. The studies were analyzed, taking their main characteristics and aspects related to generating a School Complaint in account. The results show that the predominating theoretical reference frame in the studies was Socio-historical Psychology and Critical School Psychology, with a dialectic and wide approach of school complaints, considering the historical, socio-cultural, institutional and political-economic dimensions of the social network in which the school complaints emerge.
Literature review; educational psychology; academic failure