This paper investigates the social representations present in the appreciation of schools by parents who were interviewed by Sales (2000) during a research on "the symbolic value of the school building". The aim of this work is to identify elements which contribute to build the concept of quality teaching, searching for what is subjacent to these appreciations. The material explored consists of a corpus made up by statements of parents with children at primary and secondary school in Teresina, the state capital of Piauí and Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte, highlighting the judgment criteria involved in the classification of schools, that is, the guiding principles of action. The statements showed that quality teaching involves the physical features of the building, severe discipline, strict and advanced teaching; selectivity and well paid and qualified teachers, all of them being part of the symbolic system whose function is to transfigure and dissemble real relationships that are linked to the social system of which they are part.
social representations; quality teaching; school of quality; education