SER PROFESSOR NOS ANOS INICIAIS DO ENSINO FUNDAMENTAL: Representações Sociais de estudantes de um curso de Pedagogia

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate the Social Representations of Pedagogy students about what it means to be a teacher. The theoretical-methodological framework was based on the Theory of Social Representations and on studies on Teacher Education. This study is characterized as exploratory and descriptive, with a quantitative and qualitative approach to the problem. As for the criteria for defining the research participants, we chose to invite the 438 students, enrolled in 2021, in all Pedagogy courses (in person and distance), subordinated to FEPESMIG, of which 40 accepted to participate in the questionnaire and 30 agreed to participate in the interview. As instruments for data collection were used: the individual semi-structured interview, the questionnaire and the iconographic record. Initially, the interviews were transcribed and processed by the IRAMUTEQ® software; the data from the questionnaires were tabulated and analyzed by excel®, the iconography data were categorized based on the themes they addressed. Based on this initial treatment for each of the research instruments, Content Analysis was carried out, based on Bardin (2010), in order to understand which categories are present in the participants' narratives regarding the topic studied. The results were divided into four categories: Socioeconomic characterization of the participants; Profile of the participants in relation to the Graduation; Social Representations of “Being a teacher in the early years of elementary school” and Perceptions about the future, after graduation. The majority of participants are women (95%), under the age of 30, with a family income between 1 and 3 minimum wages and enrolled in advanced periods of the course. The main motivations for choosing the course were personal skills related to the profession, curiosity about the course and significant identification with people who practiced the profession. The participants pointed out the factors of mediation, knowledge, education and ethics as important for teaching activities in the early years of elementary school. For them, a good teacher is one who adapts content to the needs of students, is flexible and, therefore, brings transformations to society. Participants aspire to teaching because they understand it as a vocation and out of love for children. Many prefer to work in the first year of elementary school. With regard to the future, the participants feel confident, believe in their insertion in the job market and claim that they will be satisfied to work as a teacher.