Giving voice to children: insights on the role of affectivity in pedagogical activity

Abstract

This paper presents part of an exploratory and qualitative study that investigated children’s depictions of the affective relationship they established with their teachers and their perceptions of the implications of this relationship in the learning process. The participants in the study were 12 children in the fourth grade, with an average of ten years and from a local elementary school (in Curitiba, Paraná). Three tools guided the methodological outline: stories draw and conceived by the children; unfinished storiesto be completed by the children; and semi-structured interviews used to identify significant elements in the children’s discourse. As a result, five categories of description arose: (1) attention, dialogue and support; (2) affectivity, kindness and esteem; (3) funny moments and togetherness; (4) desire to learn; (5) desire to teach. The analysis of the content and the observation of each participant demonstrated that these categories appear in the teacher-student relationship through various means of interaction and that students perceive the teacher’s affective investment as something of paramount importance, capable of unleashing the motivational and the cognitive processes needed in learning.