The objective of this research is to analyze social representations of change in socio-educational practices among professionals of FEBEM in São Paulo. The work is based in Moscovician theory of social representation. The "change" is based on Psychology of the Active Minorities. Interviews were conducted with 15 professionals of a unit in the Complex of Tatuapé, where any kind of physical violence against the delinquent adolescent is forbidden. The Thematic Analysis of Content identified three keythemes in the discourses: "Proposal", "FEBEM-SP" and "Change". The nucleus of the social representation of change is located around physical violence. If professionals agree with that kind of violence, they will contribute to the consolidation of the traditional approaches of the institution. Opposing it means working for ruptures and seeking more humanist social-educational practices, not always seen as possible. Archaic social representations present in the institution, founded upon punishment and violence, complicate the change of its social-educational practices.
social representations; FEBEM; change