Contributions of the activity theory to the debate about the nature of the activity of school teaching

Résumé

This paper presents preliminary results from a doctorate research in course and intends to analyze the relationship between school education and psychological development according to the standpoint of Activity Theory – also called Historical-Cultural Psychology or Social-Historical Psychology. This theoretical perspective points that the correct organization of the educational process conducts to child psychological development. Besides, the promotion of psychological development as a result of instruction depends on what is acquired and how it is acquired by the child. Due to the significance of instruction for students’ personality development process, we consider that these theoretical principles must be deeply investigated, including the analyses of aspects such as the quality of instruction, teaching activity and the activity of studying.