Professora também sente: significados e sentidos sobre a afetividade na prática docente

Abstract

The present study analyzes the affection of literacy teachers and their implications for practices undertaken by these professionals. The affective dimension was configured as a historically and culturally neglected theme in the context of psychological science and education. Currently, witnessed the establishment of a tendency to regard the affection as inseparable dimension of the individual and social practices. In education, we have witnessed the production of several studies addressing the affection from the perspective of the individual student and its impact on student learning. At the same time, we found a lack of studies to understand the affection of the teacher and the possible impact of this dimension in teaching. Thus, we aim to understand the affection of two literacy teachers (first grade of elementary school), since this series focuses the expectations of the whole school community about the literacy of students. This is a social context that raises multiple feelings and emotions in the subjects involved, especially the teacher, the person responsible for the noble task. As a general objective of the research, we intend to analyze the meanings assigned by the teachers of first grade of elementary school concerning to their own affection (emotions and feelings), which passes through the interactions established with students in the teaching-learning process. We set the theoretical framework of cultural-historical psychology, especially the contributions of Vygotsky on the constitution of the meanings and senses, as the elementary unit of the integrated development of thought and language, which reflects the extent of the individual emotional trends. We required further to the theory of subjectivity of Fernando González Rey. The author describes subjectivity as the product of the dialectical interaction between subject and socio-cultural circle, seeking to overcome the traditional concept taken by psychology, which defines it as a kind of personal inner world necessarily opposed to external reality. We applied the following qualitative methods: observations made in two classes of first grade of elementary school, with video recording depicting interactions between teacher and students; semi-structured interviews with both teachers and self-confrontation sessions simple and crossed with the teachers. The results showed that both teachers had difficulties to recognize and consider their own feelings and emotions shown in the videos. When they recognized their own feelings, they do not have deepened the discussion about them, considering other secondary issues. They showed structured conceptions of affection and demonstrated that affection impacts that undertake practice, to the extent that impacts them, as teachers. These results point to the urgency in considering the affection in the context of teaching practice. This means providing opportunities for reflection with teachers on affectivity actually lived in the teacher-student interactions, which implies the possibility of resizing and reframing practices undertaken.