Includes bibliographies.

This is a book about teachers, and learners in poor environments offour Latin American countries; Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela. Using an ethnographic approach, the study upon which this book is basedinvolved the observation of rural and urban schools at different periodsduring a school year. These observations, together with a series of interviews, provided knowledge about processes related to failure experiencesof children during their first years in school. What emerged from the studyand is presented in this book is a picture of styles of teaching, of characteristics of teacher-pupil interactions, and of the effects, bothpositive and negative, of teacher beliefs and attitudes upon pupils' self-concept and educational attainment