Social representations of lowly-schooled workers about teaching work

Abstract

This paper investigates social representations of teaching (RS – from representações sociais, in Portuguese) among lowly-schooled (TBE – from trabalhadores com baixa escolaridade, in Portuguese) and socially-vulnerable workers with kids in the public-school system. It problematizes the RS of TBE, considering their and their children’s history and connections with the public school. The RS have been theoretically founded on Moscovici’s dimensional approach. One-hundred-and-forty-five people, including those unemployed and working under an unstable or informal employment, took part on the research. Interviews revealed participant’s opinions on school and the representations of the teaching work. Then, the software Alceste and content analysis were used to analyze the information. Discursive productions about teaching put the idealist RS as promoters of a better future, the regulative RS as correctional and socially-disciplinary work, and the RS of a relational work as interpersonal activity, permeated by students’ affection and motivation.