Resumo

PEREZ LOPEZ, Ruth  e  ARTEAGA MONROY, Miguel Ángel. Professional identity and practice of street educators in Mexico. Rev.latinoam.cienc.soc.niñez juv [online]. 2009, vol.7, n.2, pp. 887-905. ISSN 1692-715X.

This article aims at analyzing some of the factors that nowadays prevent the construction of professional identity and practice of street educators who work for Mexican Non-Profit civil society organizations. The paper is developed based upon the experience of the authors as street educators, as well as on the qualitative information gathered through a collective semi-constructed interview administered to a group of street educators, and on reflections taken at different work places. The speech analysis of street educators as well as of the institutions favors the understanding of the role played, nowadays, by the main actors involved in the subject of children and youths living on the street. This document is one of the first reflection attempts on the professional practice of street educators in Mexico. In this sense, the approaches implemented aim at being a contribution to the reformulation of the educational practice with children and youths who live in a state of social exclusion.

Palavras-chave : street educator; professional identity; educational practice; street children; street youths; care-providing organizations.