Abstract

MORAIS, Normanda Araujo de; LEITAO, Hilmeri da Silva; KOLLER, Sílvia Helena  and  CAMPOS, Herculano Ricardo. Investigating the experience of living in a boarding school: positives and negatives aspects for the students development. Psicol. estud. [online]. 2004, vol.9, n.3, pp. 379-387. ISSN 1413-7372.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1413-73722004000300006.

This work investigates the positive and negative aspects of the experience of living in a boarding school to the psychological development of students, the influences of the collective experience on the school performance and the conception of an ideal boarding school. Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15-22 year-old students. Data was analyzed through content analysis. Both positive and negative aspects of the boarding school experience were pointed out from the group-gathering category (possibility of making new friends versus fights and arguments). The limitations of the boarding school concerning facilities and physical structure, as well as the stressful routine, were the main implications of the collective experience on the school performance. The interns' concept of an ideal boarding school depended on facilities and structure improvements, and on the quality of the relationships. The results are important to educative context comprehension's that received little attention in the literatura.

Keywords : boarding school; youth; development.