SCHOOL FAILURE AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON: AN INTERSECTIONAL ANALYSIS IN ACADEMIC PRODUCTION

Abstract

This article presents an integrative literature review on school failure in Brazil, articulating critical, socio-historical, intersectional and decolonial perspectives. The study dialogues particularly with the work of Maria Helena Souza Patto and examines how academic production has problematized school failure as a social, historical and cultural phenomenon embedded in school culture. The review included 14 publications—articles, books, book chapters and theses—retrieved from SciELO, Google Scholar, CAPES Journals and ERIC, covering the period between 2015 and 2025. The analysis revealed both continuities and ruptures in academic interpretations of school failure, highlighting how meritocratic discourses, homogenizing pedagogical expectations and individualizing explanations continue to sustain unequal schooling trajectories. Conversely, emerging critical approaches incorporate plural epistemologies, intersectional analyses and decolonial frameworks, contributing to the dismantling of exclusionary narratives and strengthening practices that recognize diversity and promote educational justice. The article concludes that articulating classical critical theories with contemporary perspectives broadens the understanding of the complexity of school failure and suggests pathways for transforming school practices.