Ser professor no ensino médio público: um estudo à luz da teoria das representações sociais

Abstract

This study aims to analyze, in the light of the Theory of Social Representations (TRS), the conceptions of being a teacher of high school teachers at the São Cristóvão Teaching Center, a public school located in the metropolitan region of São Luís. The notion of social representation proposed by Moscovici (1978) corresponds to the search for the elaboration of a truly psychosocial concept, since it seeks to overcome the dichotomous relationship between individual and society, and also by favoring the comprehension of the researched object in its entirety. About the SRT, it is a common sense theory that presents itself as a pertinent option to the study because the relevance in the field of research in education lacks a more focused look on psychosocial phenomena. The bibliographic contribution chosen for this study is based on Freire (1975, 2018), Nóvoa (1995a, 1995b, 1995c), Libiliar, Oliveira and Toschi (2012), Saviani (2013). Subsidizing the research, with regard to Social Representations, we used the studies of Moscovici (1978, 2003, 2012), Alves-Mazzotti (1994), Abric (1994, 1998), Gilly (2001), Jesuíno (2001), Jodelet, (2001), Sá (2002) and Machado (2008). Data analysis was performed from the perspective of the Central Nucleus Theory, theory proposed by Jean Claude Abric, belonging to one of the aspects of the TRS. According to the author, a social representation consists of two subsystems - the central and the peripheral - that function exactly as an entity, where each part has a specific and complementary role. Procedurally, the qualitative approach was chosen. I applied a profile questionnaire and the Free Word Association Test (TALP), used as data collection instruments, and to aid in the measurement of the data obtained, the Iramutec software. The analyzes carried out point to a change in the conception of being a teacher, since the central core of the evoked social representations, professional, differs from a previously rooted conception, in which the teaching profession was considered a priesthood. It is also noticed that the subjects' representations suggest a change in the boundary between wanting to be and not being a teacher, revealing doubts about teaching. There was a certain lack in the pedagogical environment of a thorough knowledge about the theories and conceptions that constitute the corpus of knowledge about being a teacher.