Trajetórias de professoras de bebês: as identidades de um grupo profissional

Abstract

The present investigation has the general objective of understanding, from the perspective of teachers who work with babies in a public daycare center, how their professional identities are constituted. In this sense, it started from the assumption that the brands that make up the subjects and constitute their professional identities say a lot about the experiences they have, the decisions they make and the practices developed. For that, it used as main theoretical contributions, the studies of: Dubar (1997, 2006, 2012), Hall (1997, 2000), Nóvoa (1991, 1995, 2000, 2009), Ciampa (1987) and Huberman (2000), referring to professional identity; Ariès (2014), Sarmento T. (1999, 2013, 2016); Sarmento (2008) and Tebet (2013, 2019), on the concepts of child, childhood and babies; Kuhlmann Jr. (1998), Pereira (2017) and Rosemberg (1992), about the history of daycare centers in Brazil and how they can contribute to the integral development of babies; Cerisara (1996, 1999, 2002a, 2002b), Silva (2014) and Barbosa (2009a, 2009b, 2010, 2016), related to teaching in early childhood education. The data were constructed based on the qualitative approach, taking the form of a case study. As strategies for the construction of the data, it made use mainly of mediated narrative interviews, inspired by Caixeta and Borges (2017) and Ibiapina (2008); and semi-structured interviews conducted with three baby teachers, in a day care center located in the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza. The records were made through a field diary, photographs and an audio recorder. The results from the analysis of the data indicated that the professional identities of the baby teachers are linked: 1) to the beginning of their professional trajectories, marked by difficulties arising, among other aspects, from the lack of training; the little to almost no knowledge about the development of practices with babies and very young children in daycare centers; the dilemmas about the expectations of their families regarding their performance in the profession and vagueness about professional choices; 2) the process of choosing to teach, which is not always influenced by the identification with the profession, but by the need for employment, secure remuneration and concern for the future; 3) the experiences of initial training, in undergraduate courses and continuing specialization, characterized by several challenges, among them, the overload of work and study, in addition to the economic difficulties. In addition, when referring to the professional identities attributed to them by their peers, the teachers highlighted the lack of understanding and recognition of the work developed with the babies, being attributed a professional identity similar to that of “caregivers”, not belonging to the class of teachers . With regard to the babies' families, they pointed out the role of "mother" or "nanny" as being the professional identities attributed to them by these adults. Understanding the process of building the professional identities of baby teachers requires knowledge of their perspectives on the ways in which they see themselves and how they believe that those who share the care/education of children up to 18 months of age see them. In the context discussed here, three main aspects contribute to the constitution of the professional identities of baby teachers: childhood, teacher training and interactions in their work environments. It is in this scenario that they constitute themselves personally and professionally, building knowledge about themselves and the profession they assume, asserting themselves in teaching.