Futuro e docência: representações de professores em formação em um contexto de presentismo

Abstract

This paper is based on research and studies developed by the International Center for Studies in Social Representations and Subjectivity – Education (CIERS-ed), part both of UNESCO Chair on the Professional Development of Teachers and of the French-Brazilian Serge Moscovici Chair. This study deals with the representations by teachers in training about the teaching practice and the future perspectives of the teaching profession, amidst a landscape where the past is perceived as abandoned and the future, uncertain. Hartog (2015) named this way of viewing the world, with too much focus on the present, as presentism, a worldview that can impact the representations about the teaching profession and, consequently, the future activity of young teachers in training. If a future-related crisis is a reality, and if the teaching profession is targeted at the future, then the following issue presents itself in this research: “How do young teachers in training who chose a profession whose goal is to educate the future generation represent the possibilities envisaged for the future?” The goal of the survey was to identify the social representations that support the possible future projects – or the lack thereof – by young teachers currently in training, with the aid of the theoretical tools of SRT (Social Representation Theory, as proposed by some of the most eminent scholars, such as Moscovici, Jodelet, Sá and Abric). Concerning the theoretical support for elucidating the conception of presentist time, the study drew on research on the conception and representation of time in modern times (HARTOG 2015, KOSELLECK 2006), and went on to describe how they stand from a more psychosocial standpoint. SRT provides the theoretical support for this research and helps conduct the methodological process, with a quantitative-qualitative approach, inherent to STR-based studies. This research targeted a specific area in Brazil, namely the Santa Catarina state. The participants are students graduating in Math and Physics from the IFC, the Santa Catarina Federal Institute. This study is based on the hypothesis that both the insecurity observed in the labor market and the declared reality of presentism as a trait of modern times had an impact on the representations by young teachers in training, thwarting long-term projections, both in relation to the teaching career and to future education projects. However, this research found that a significant share of the subjects project themselves in their future teaching activities. By applying Free Word Association Technique, we found projections of a stable future, materialized in the family, with the profession acting as a bridge to that stability. Among other findings, the value given to the furthering of education shows to be a gateway to the profession and to stability for the family. Also featuring prominently is the image of the teacher as dedicated individuals imbued with a sense of responsibility – although the image of the other-student features less prominently in the representation of the profession. What’s more, it was found that although the subjects are aware of the difficulties involved in the profession, they still perceive it as a project for their future.