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Educação: Teoria e Prática
versión impresa ISSN 1993-2010versión On-line ISSN 1981-8106
Educ. Teoria Prática vol.32 no.65 Rio Claro 2022
https://doi.org/10.18675/1981-8106.v32.n.65.s16545
Articles
Professional life cycle of the Federal District teachers: temporality and working condition
1Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal – Brasil. E-mail: katiacurado@unb.br.
2Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal – Brasil. E-mail: shirleidecruz@unb.br.
This article aims to analyze the teaching professional life cycle in the context of the Federal District (Brazil), considering the different phases indicated by the national and international literature (Huberman, 2000, Marcelo Garcia, 2019; Vaillant, 2008; and Papi, 2011). The methodology deals with the analysis of data on the relationship between temporality and working conditions. The study is the result of a survey with new/beginner teachers of basic education in the Education network of the Federal District. As data sources 427 questionnaires and 70 interviews were used. Theoretically, this study refers to Huberman (1989, 1992 and 1995), Duarte (2013), Marx (1999), Luckas (1990) among others. We chose the relationship between professional life stages and involvement with teaching work. The result shows that temporal marks have evidence in the professional life cycle, but that the marks of experience (perjivanie) constitute the professional life of teachers in the Federal District. The synthesis that emerges from the real shows that the difficulties and discoveries of beginning/entry teachers are intrinsically linked to their conditions and the ways of carrying out work, it is understood that the construction of new relationships and working conditions can enable the collective confrontation of the objective and subjective conditions that hinder the process of constituting an individuality for oneself.
Keywords Professional Life Cycle; Temporality; Working Conditions; Brazil; Teachers
Este artigo visa analisar o ciclo de vida profissional docente no contexto do Distrito Federal (Brasil), considerando as diferentes fases indicadas pela literatura nacional e internacional (Huberman, 2000, Marcelo Garcia, 2019; Vaillant, 2008; Papi, 2011). A metodologia trata da análise dos dados da relação entre a temporalidade e as condições de trabalho. O estudo é resultado de uma pesquisa com professores ingressantes/iniciantes da educação básica na rede de Educação do Distrito Federal. Foram utilizados como fonte de dados 403 questionários e 70 entrevistas. Teoricamente, este estudo referencia-se em Huberman (1989, 1992 e 1995), Duarte (2013), Marx (1999), Luckas (1990), entre outros. Elegemos a relação entre estágios da vida profissional e o envolvimento com o trabalho docente. O resultado apresenta que as marcas temporais têm evidências no ciclo de vida profissional, mas que as marcas de vivência (perjivânie) constituem a vida profissional dos professores do Distrito Federal. A síntese que emerge apresenta as dificuldades e descobertas dos professores iniciantes/ingressantes, intrinsecamente ligadas às suas condições e as formas de realização de trabalho. Entende-se que a construção de novas relações e condições de trabalho podem possibilitar o enfrentamento coletivo das condições objetivas e subjetivas, que obstaculizam o processo de constituição de uma individualidade para si.
Palavras-chave Ciclo de vida profissional; Temporalidade; Condições de trabalho; Brasil; Professores
El presente articulo tiene como objetivo hacer un análisis del ciclo de la vida profesional docente en el contexto del Distrito Federal (Brasil), considerando las diferentes fases indicadas por la literatura nacional e internacional (Huberman, 2000; Marcelo Garcia, 2019; Vaillant, 2008; Papi, 2011). La metodología trata del análisis de los datos de la relación entre la temporalidad y las condiciones de trabajo. El estudio ha resultado de una investigación con profesores ingresantes/iniciantes de la Educación Básica en la red de educación de Distrito Federal. Han sido utilizadas como fuentes de datos 403 encuestas y 70 entrevistas. Teóricamente, este estudio se referencia en Huberman (1989, 1992 e 1995), Duarte (2013), Marx (1999), Luckas (1990), entre otros. Elegimos a la relación entre etapas de la vida profesional y el compromiso con el trabajo docente. El resultado muestra que las marcas temporales poseen evidencias en el ciclo de vida profesional, pero que las marcas de vivencia (perjivânie) constituyen la vida profesional de los profesores del Distrito Federal. La síntesis que emerge de la realidad presenta que las dificultades y descubrimientos de los profesores iniciantes/ingresantes están intrínsecamente conectados a sus condiciones y formas de realización del trabajo. Se comprende que la construcción de nuevas relaciones y condiciones de trabajo pueden posibilitar el enfrentamiento colectivo de las condiciones objetivas y subjetivas que obstaculizan el proceso de constitución de una individualidad para uno mismo.
Palabras clave Ciclo de Vida Professional; Temporalidad; Condiciones de Trabajo; Brasil; Profesores
1 Introduction
In studies about teacher’s education and their profession, one of the aspects that has been identified as relevant refers to the importance of thinking the complexity of the phases of teachers’ professional development. This process is understood as a continuum developed from the experience accumulated during their students’ life, the specific professional education – which has been called initial education – the beginning of their career, and their continuous development (LIMA, 2004). This is a trajectory built up through the experiences from which the teachers develop according to a set of phases with specific features, in differentiated spaces and times, and with individual needs. For some teachers, this path might be easily followed, while others might feel it as a time marked by tensions, doubts, and anxiety, thus revealing a complex and dialectical process. To sum up, according to Rocha and Curado Silva (2015, p. 32): “[...] learning embedded in the teachers’ professional development refers to their work, the trajectory followed in their career, their working conditions, and the professional activity”.
According to Huberman (2000), throughout the teachers’ professional trajectory, these professionals experience the “teaching professional life cycle”, which is organized in phases that express different steps, marked by: identification, realization, stability, distance between ideals and realities faced, feelings of freedom and belonging, routine sensation, and high motivation, among others (Chart 1).
Chart 1 Teachers’ professional life cycle according to Huberman, (2013).
| Teachers’ professional life cycle | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 – Starting the career | This is the initial contact with the professional activity. It is marked by initial enthusiasm. It is also a period of “survival” and “discoveries”. Reality is discovered (reality shock). | |
| 2 – Stabilization | This is when they chose their professional identity. It is marked by withdrawal or permanence in the profession. Stability is reached (official professional recognition). The teaching activity is consolidated. | |
| 3 – Diversification | Professionals commit to the work carried out with their peers. They constantly seek novelty. Teaching practice is improved. | |
| 4 – Questioning | "Middle of the career". This is a phase of multiple features. Some disappointment might occur. Some individuals are affected by a crisis regarding their professional choice. They question their career. Different sexes experience this phase differently. | |
| 5 – Serenity and affective distancing | The enthusiasm with the teaching practice reduces or disappears. They feel they have nothing to prove to anybody or to themselves. Their work might become mechanical. Distancing in the teacher-student relationship is observed. | |
| 6 – Conservatism and complaint | Professionals go from the serenity phase to the conservatism phase. At this point, some resistance associated to their professional trajectory is observed. Professionals tend to show greater rigidity and conservatism, they are overly cautious, resistant to innovation, and nostalgic of the past. | |
| 7 – Disinvestment | They tend to withdraw. This is a phase when they consider their own personal interests. They might show lack of professional commitment. | |
Source: Huberman (2013), organized by ARAÚJO, 2016
That author emphasizes that there is no linearity between the phases and that they are not static. Thus, teachers might express simultaneously characteristics of different phases since the time and way each individual experiences these states are influenced by several factors. The main factors associated with these features are time in the career and working conditions. Therefore, not all teachers can be “framed” in a certain work time or stage in the professional life cycle. The singularity of the experiences of each individual, that is, their sociocultural baggage must be considered. In this continuous process of becoming teachers, these professionals develop their career considering the challenges and requirements of society and the specificities that mark the teaching segment where they are inserted. Marcelo Garcia (2019) confirms this fact by pointing out that when addressing the teaching career, one must recognize that when referring to “learning how to teach”, these professionals go through different phases, and each one of these phases is marked by “personal, professional, organizational, contextual, and psychological requirements that are both specific and differentiated” (p. 112).
The National Professional Teachers’ Education Association (ANFOPE - Associação Nacional pela Formação dos Profissionais da Educação) has defended, for example, that in the analysis of the teachers’ career cycle, principles of the teachers’ struggle movement should be contemplated, these include: a global policy of initial and continuous education, the theory-practice relation, dignifying working conditions, better salaries, and constitution of a national common base founded on a socio-historical conception of education articulated with appreciation of the teaching work. However, some questioning remains such as: in addition to time in the career, which factors are related to the work to guarantee the consolidation of teachers’ development and professionalization aligning principles that guide the recognition of specificities in the teaching practice and the real and objective conditions faced by those doing the work?
It seems to be necessary to understand that although emphasis is placed on the career time, there are other factors influencing the teaching activity and the processes of structuration of their career cycle. These include the teaching and classroom routine, working conditions, the process of identifying with the job, social valorization, degree of satisfaction, etc. Such factors enable the constitution of a view regarding their life cycle and professional identity.
According to Huberman (2000), when analyzing teachers’ professional life cycle phases, two new steps should be added, namely, “diversification”, and “questioning”. The former comprises the moments the teachers seek to find new ways of developing their work and individual professional experiences to “[...] seek new stimuli, new ideas, new commitments” (p. 39). At this point, teachers feel like committing with more meaningful and relevant projects, they try to mobilize feelings of efficacy and competence they have just acquired. We understand that the diversification phase is linked to a moment in the teachers’ work in which, after the first few years dealing with the real experience, teachers define their professional profile and their way of conducting their daily work, which makes them feel better able and competent to carry out their attributions. On the other hand, the latter is the understanding that there is a working routine that might generate a moment of crisis when facing the perception of this stabilization in the teaching career. For some, this is represented by the monotony of the daily life in the classroom, year after year, which provokes this questioning. For others, this is more related to the disappointment following the experiences they failed in or the structural reforms in which they took part energetically that triggered this “crisis”.
Again, we question whether these characteristics when articulated with career time and teachers’ working conditions in the Brazilian context would be similar, or whether it would be possible to identify other elements that would constitute another quite singular career cycle.
This study also seeks to broaden the analysis already reported, mainly on the career onboarding phase, now directed to other moments in which the teachers carry out their work, configuring a singular and individual professional development in which professionalization macrosocial elements are articulated with microsocial elements of life constitution and the teaching work construction. While investigating the beginning of teachers’ career in the Brazilian Federal District (DF), we have advised collectively scientific initiation projects, monographs (end-of-course work), master’s dissertations, and doctorate theses, among other studies focusing on beginning teachers.
Some results of the studies developed by our research group named Group of Studies and Research on Teachers’ Education and Action (Gepfape – Grupo de Estudo e Pesquisa sobre Formação e Atuação de Professores) (2013-2016) enabled us to gather explaining elements of these professionals’ life cycle, regarding their working conditions in other moments of the teaching activity, in addition to the teachers’ discoveries in this phase of their careers. Our main aim is to question how teachers’ professional life cycle is built, considering the time and working condition factors in the Brazilian Federal District. The research data is presented below.
2 Research Methodology
Aiming at identifying the relation between the teaching experience and the constitution of a professional life cycle, we surveyed data collected using a questionnaire answered by 403 individuals, in which two respondents did not inform how long they had been working as teachers and were excluded from the analysis. Therefore, 401 questionnaires were included. The statistical analysis was assisted by the Excel 2013 and R version 3.3.2 software. The results were obtained from cross tabulation and hypothesis tests and, to verify the association between the variables of interest, cross tabulation and association tests were employed.
First, the variables were crossed in tables and suitable association tests for this type of analysis were carried out. The Chi-square association test is usually used to find out whether there is any association between the row and column variable in a contingency table. The null hypothesis is that the variables are not associated or related, in other words, they are independent. The alternative hypothesis is that the variables are associated, that is, they are dependent. The null hypothesis is rejected when the “p” value is below the “α” significance level, otherwise, it is not rejected. The significance level is usually determined by the researcher and traditionally fixed at 1%, 5%, or 10%; in this study, it was α=10%. Going beyond the quantitative data, we sought to carry out a categorical qualitative analysis.
2.1 The professional life cycle construction
With the main aim of questioning how to build up a teachers’ career cycle in the FD, taking into consideration teachers’ time in the career and their working conditions in the FD context, we presented the conditions that might generate different categories that permeate and explain the career cycle such as satisfaction/dissatisfaction, suffering/pleasure, withdrawal/permanence, involvement with the profession (investment in the career and profession), and involvement with the school (school political context as their workplace), among others.
In all groups, according to the experience in years of teaching – the main factor for choosing the teaching job was seen to be the specific interest in the profession mainly highlighting: i) the second option “due to specific interest in the knowledge area”, especially among teachers with 21-25 years in the profession (25%) and over 25 years in the activity (20%), and ii) the third option “for giving more access to the job market”, mainly among teachers with 11-15 and 16-20 years of professional activity (Table 1).
Table 1 Experience in years of work and reason for having chosen this profession.
| Experience in years/ Reasons for choosing this profession | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | OTHERS | Not answered | Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | |
| 0-5 years | 42 | 16% | 13 | 5% | 30 | 11% | 5 | 2% | 21 | 8% | 81 | 31% | 31 | 12% | 37 | 14% | 5 | 2% | 0 | 0% | 265 |
| 6-10 years | 31 | 17% | 12 | 6% | 21 | 11% | 5 | 3% | 10 | 5% | 51 | 28% | 21 | 11% | 28 | 15% | 5 | 3% | 1 | 1% | 185 |
| 11-15 years | 18 | 21% | 3 | 3% | 4 | 5% | 2 | 2% | 7 | 8% | 29 | 34% | 3 | 3% | 16 | 19% | 3 | 3% | 1 | 1% | 86 |
| 16-20 years | 21 | 19% | 4 | 4% | 9 | 8% | 3 | 3% | 7 | 6% | 35 | 32% | 10 | 9% | 18 | 16% | 1 | 1% | 2 | 2% | 110 |
| 21-25 years | 35 | 25% | 7 | 5% | 9 | 6% | 1 | 1% | 13 | 9% | 47 | 34% | 9 | 6% | 12 | 9% | 7 | 5% | 0 | 0% | 140 |
| Over 25 years | 9 | 20% | 2 | 4% | 2 | 4% | 2 | 4% | 3 | 7% | 18 | 40% | 2 | 4% | 3 | 7% | 4 | 9% | 0 | 0% | 45 |
| Total | 156 | 19% | 41 | 5% | 75 | 9% | 18 | 2% | 61 | 7% | 261 | 31% | 76 | 9% | 114 | 14% | 25 | 3% | 4 | 0% | 831 |
Source: 2019/2020 Questionnaire answers.
To verify whether there was significant statistical difference between the experience in years of teaching and the level of professional satisfaction at that point of the career, in which 1 = totally dissatisfied and 5 = highly satisfied (Table 2), the Chi-square test was employed with α=10%, and a p-value = 0.5187 was obtained. Thus, the null hypothesis was not rejected, and there was no difference or association between those two variables/issues, even though we must indicate that this level was average.
Table 2 Experience in years of work and professional satisfaction level at this point of the career.
| Experience in years/ Profissional satisfaction level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Not answered | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | ||
| 0-5 years | 2 | 29% | 7 | 17% | 25 | 24% | 42 | 29% | 34 | 35% | 4 | 44% | 114 | |
| 6-10 years | 2 | 29% | 15 | 36% | 30 | 29% | 31 | 22% | 16 | 16% | 1 | 11% | 95 | |
| 11-15 years | 2 | 29% | 7 | 17% | 9 | 9% | 18 | 13% | 11 | 11% | 1 | 11% | 48 | |
| 16-20 years | 1 | 14% | 7 | 17% | 14 | 14% | 16 | 11% | 12 | 12% | 2 | 22% | 52 | |
| 21-25 years | 0 | 0% | 6 | 14% | 18 | 17% | 28 | 20% | 17 | 18% | 0 | 0% | 69 | |
| Over 25 years | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 7 | 7% | 8 | 6% | 7 | 7% | 1 | 11% | 23 | |
| Total | 7 | 100% | 42 | 100% | 103 | 100% | 143 | 100% | 97 | 100% | 9 | 100% | 401 | |
Source: 2019/2020 Questionnaire data.
According to the answers to the questionnaires applied in 2019/2020, the professionals’ satisfaction with the work carried out was caused by many factors such as pleasant relations in the workplace, pleasure with the activities accomplished, and also their development, favorable facilities and organizations, achievement of results, professional recognition, professional progress, and the greater responsibility undertaken, while the lack of these factors usually resulted in dissatisfaction with the work. In addition, personal, social (recognition), institutional (support from education agencies), economic (salary and professional stability), pedagogical (teaching and working conditions), and relational (teacher-student, teacher-teacher interactions) factors were responsible for their higher or lower level of professional satisfaction.
To understand the relationship between teaching experience and the way teachers felt at that time in their career, seven alternatives of answers and the option ‘others’ were made available. These were: A) in a state of serenity and affective distancing, I feel tranquil in my profession and try to avoid complaining about it; B) in a state of professional disinvestment, I am withdrawing from my job and dedicating more time to myself. I am not interested in investing in professional courses and qualification; C) in a state of questioning, with doubts regarding my career and profession; D) enthusiastic in relation to new aspects that are revealed within the professional routine and that are linked to the experience of being in charge of a class or for feeling as part of a group; E) stable, experiencing a feeling of definite commitment with teaching and also taking responsibilities; F) experimenting, living a moment of diversification in which I feel as if I am breaking the pedagogical rigidity, I start to create and innovate in my work without following teaching books strictly; G) concerned, anxious, frightened, and lonely. I realized that there is a distance between the ideal and the daily routine of a classroom, the work is fragmented. I think it is hard to reconcile the pedagogical relation and the knowledge transmission, I notice an oscillation between quite intimate and distant relations, I have difficulties with some students that create problems and with unsuitable teaching material, I also feel lack of support and guidance.
To reach the results, we could not carry out the association test for the crossing of data due to the independence criterion since the respondents could choose more than one alternative for the way they felt about their career at the time (Table 3).
Table 3 Experience in years of work and the way teachers felt at that moment of their career.
| Experience in years/ Feeling in relation to the career currently | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | OTHERS | Not answered | Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | ||
| 0-5 years | 4 | 3% | 0 | 0% | 19 | 16% | 39 | 33% | 5 | 4% | 35 | 30% | 8 | 7% | 5 | 4% | 3 | 3% | 118 | |
| 6-10 years | 10 | 10% | 2 | 2% | 20 | 19% | 14 | 13% | 15 | 14% | 13 | 13% | 22 | 21% | 4 | 4% | 4 | 4% | 104 | |
| 11-15 years | 5 | 10% | 2 | 4% | 4 | 8% | 4 | 8% | 6 | 12% | 16 | 31% | 12 | 24% | 0 | 0% | 2 | 4% | 51 | |
| 16-20 years | 3 | 5% | 1 | 2% | 4 | 7% | 5 | 9% | 13 | 24% | 14 | 25% | 11 | 20% | 1 | 2% | 3 | 5% | 55 | |
| 21-25 years | 8 | 11% | 4 | 5% | 4 | 5% | 9 | 12% | 21 | 28% | 9 | 12% | 13 | 18% | 2 | 3% | 4 | 5% | 74 | |
| Over 25 years | 6 | 22% | 1 | 4% | 1 | 4% | 4 | 15% | 4 | 15% | 7 | 26% | 4 | 15% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 27 | |
| Total | 36 | 8% | 10 | 2% | 52 | 12% | 75 | 17% | 64 | 15% | 94 | 22% | 70 | 16% | 12 | 3% | 16 | 4% | 429 | |
Source: 2019/2020 Questionnaire data.
According to the teachers’ responses, their main feelings related to their career, at the time, resulted from experimentations, in a moment of diversification with the feeling of breaking the pedagogical rigidity, starting to create and innovate their work without following teacher books strictly (22%); or enthusiastic with the novelties they observed on each day of their professional activity, and which were linked to the experience of feeling responsible for a class or belonging to a group (17%); or, even, concerned and anxious, fearful, and lonely for noticing that there was a distance between the ideal situation and the daily routine of the classroom, that their work was fragmented, and it was difficult to reconcile the pedagogical relation and knowledge transmission, they observed some oscillation between quite intimate and rather distant relationships, difficulties with problem students and unsuitable teaching material, and lack of support and guidance (16%).
For those with less experience – 0 to 5 years of teaching, the main feeling was enthusiasm with the novelty of the professional routine and the experience of being responsible for a class and belonging to a group. For those with 6-10 years of professional experience, the answers were quite homogeneous distributed between the three main options. Regarding teachers with 11-15 years of experience, they chose the option related to experimentation, that is, living a moment of diversification when they felt a rupture with the pedagogical rigidity, creating and innovating in their work without necessarily following teaching books strictly. For those with 16-20 years in the teaching activity, the first three options were chosen quite homogeneously. Teachers with 21-25 years in the career mainly chose “stabilized and living a feeling of definite commitment with teaching and still taking over responsibilities”. The ones with over 25 years of experience opted for the feeling that they were still experimenting and living that moment of rupture with the pedagogical rigidity and starting to create and innovate in their work, without following teaching books strictly.
To verify whether there was significant difference between the experience in years and the degree of professional fulfillment, considering the relationship with students, in which 1 = not fulfilling at all and 5 = completely fulfilling (Table 4), the Chi-square test with α=10% was used and the p-value = 0.996 was obtained. Thus, the null hypothesis was not rejected and there was no difference or association between these two variables/issues, that is, their experience in years did not influence their level of satisfaction with their relationship with students at any time of their professional lives. This is an interesting aspect characterized by the teaching work, which is the service offer recognized in the learning subject at any time of their career.
Table 4 Experience in years and level of satisfaction of their relationship with students.
| Experience in years / Relationship with students | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Not answered | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | |
| 0-5 years | 1 | 25% | 6 | 33% | 21 | 29% | 41 | 26% | 42 | 30% | 3 | 33% | 114 |
| 6-10 years | 2 | 50% | 5 | 28% | 19 | 26% | 37 | 24% | 29 | 20% | 3 | 33% | 95 |
| 11-15 years | 1 | 25% | 2 | 11% | 9 | 13% | 18 | 12% | 17 | 12% | 1 | 11% | 48 |
| 16-20 years | 0 | 0% | 2 | 11% | 8 | 11% | 24 | 15% | 17 | 12% | 1 | 11% | 52 |
| 21-25 years | 0 | 0% | 2 | 11% | 11 | 15% | 29 | 19% | 26 | 18% | 1 | 11% | 69 |
| Over 25 years | 0 | 0% | 1 | 6% | 4 | 6% | 7 | 4% | 11 | 8% | 0 | 0% | 23 |
| Total | 4 | 100% | 18 | 100% | 72 | 100% | 156 | 100% | 142 | 100% | 9 | 100% | 401 |
Source: 2019/2020 Questionnaire data.
Regarding teachers’ experience in years and their level of professional fulfillment in relation to their peers, considering 1 = not fulfilling at all and 5 = completely fulfilling (Table 5), the Chi-square test with α=10% was used and the p-value = 0.2344 was obtained. Thus, the null hypothesis was not rejected and no difference or association between these two variables/issues were observed, that is, the experience in years did not influence these professionals’ satisfaction with their relationship with their peers.
Table 5 Experience in years and teachers’ level of satisfaction with their relationship with their peers.
Source: 2019/2020 Questionnaire data.
When investigating whether there was significant difference between teachers’ experience in years and their level of professional fulfillment considering their relationship with students’ parents, considering 1 = not fulfilling at all, and 5 = completely fulfilling (Table 6), the study showed that their experience in years did not influence their satisfaction with this type of relationship. Some variation was observed, but it was not related to years of experience, but rather with their experience marks.
Table 6 Experience in years and level of satisfaction with their relationship with students’ parents.
Source: 2019/2020 Questionnaire data.
The category experience in years definitely influenced teachers’ level of satisfaction with their salaries, which showed the existence of a career plan and that teachers, despite claiming other elements for this plan, evidenced certain satisfaction with this element when they progressed in the professional career (Table 7).
Table 7 Experience in years and level of satisfaction with salary/pay.
| Experience in years /Salary | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Not answered | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | |
| 0-5 years | 9 | 19% | 20 | 23% | 24 | 19% | 42 | 40% | 17 | 52% | 2 | 40% | 114 |
| 6-10 years | 8 | 17% | 17 | 20% | 38 | 31% | 24 | 23% | 6 | 18% | 2 | 40% | 95 |
| 11-15 years | 3 | 6% | 17 | 20% | 16 | 13% | 9 | 9% | 3 | 9% | 0 | 0% | 48 |
| 16-20 years | 14 | 29% | 9 | 10% | 15 | 12% | 10 | 10% | 3 | 9% | 1 | 20% | 52 |
| 21-25 years | 9 | 19% | 18 | 21% | 25 | 20% | 13 | 12% | 4 | 12% | 0 | 0% | 69 |
| Over 25 years | 5 | 10% | 5 | 6% | 6 | 5% | 7 | 7% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 23 |
| Total | 48 | 100% | 86 | 100% | 124 | 100% | 105 | 100% | 33 | 100% | 5 | 100% | 401 |
Source: 2019/2020 questionnaire data.
An interesting result is the experience in years being associated with teachers’ satisfaction with the school infrastructure since we observed that more experienced teachers expressed sharp criticism to the school space and its infrastructure (Table 8).
Table 8 Experience in years and level of satisfaction with the school infrastructure.
| Experience in years/school infrastructure | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Not answered |
Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | |
| 0-5 years | 8 | 25% | 18 | 26% | 25 | 22% | 33 | 28% | 26 | 43% | 4 | 50% | 114 |
| 6-10 years | 11 | 34% | 20 | 29% | 24 | 21% | 27 | 23% | 11 | 18% | 2 | 25% | 95 |
| 11-15 years | 6 | 19% | 7 | 10% | 15 | 13% | 16 | 14% | 3 | 5% | 1 | 13% | 48 |
| 16-20 years | 3 | 9% | 8 | 11% | 18 | 16% | 19 | 16% | 4 | 7% | 0 | 0% | 52 |
| 21-25 years | 3 | 9% | 13 | 19% | 27 | 24% | 16 | 14% | 10 | 16% | 0 | 0% | 69 |
| Over 25 years | 1 | 3% | 4 | 6% | 3 | 3% | 7 | 6% | 7 | 11% | 1 | 13% | 23 |
| Total | 32 | 100% | 70 | 100% | 112 | 100% | 118 | 100% | 61 | 100% | 8 | 100% | 401 |
Source: 2019/2020 Questionnaire data.
About the type of association between the unions analyzed, according to Viera and Junior (2020), professional satisfaction is considered a dependent variable in relation to teachers’ perceptions of the conditions of the classroom and the education unit. In this work, we found a positive coefficient, this means that the higher the perception of the classroom conditions are, the higher the professional satisfaction measure is. The same occurred in relation to the perception of the conditions of the education unit. Therefore, the results obtained in this study showed that teachers show different perceptions about the infrastructure along their career, but it also pointed out the issue that investments in the place where these professionals spend most of their work time has potential to improve their professional satisfaction.
To verify whether there is significant statistical difference between the experience in years and the level of professional fulfillment with their workload, considering 1 = not fulfilling at all and 5 = completely fulfilling (Table 9), the Chi-square test with α=10% was used obtaining the p-value = 0.6377. Thus, the null hypothesis was not rejected and no difference or association between these two variables/issues were observed, that is, the experience in years did not influence teachers’ satisfaction with their workload.
Table 9 Experience in years and level of satisfaction with their workload.
| Experience in years / Workload | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Not answered | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | |
| 0-5 years | 1 | 13% | 11 | 35% | 18 | 21% | 37 | 25% | 40 | 34% | 7 | 58% | 114 |
| 6-10 years | 3 | 38% | 9 | 29% | 23 | 27% | 32 | 21% | 25 | 21% | 3 | 25% | 95 |
| 11-15 years | 1 | 13% | 3 | 10% | 14 | 17% | 18 | 12% | 12 | 10% | 0 | 0% | 48 |
| 16-20 years | 2 | 25% | 5 | 16% | 12 | 14% | 21 | 14% | 11 | 9% | 1 | 8% | 52 |
| 21-25 years | 1 | 13% | 3 | 10% | 13 | 15% | 32 | 21% | 20 | 17% | 0 | 0% | 69 |
| Over 25 years | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 4 | 5% | 9 | 6% | 9 | 8% | 1 | 8% | 23 |
| Total | 8 | 100% | 31 | 100% | 84 | 100% | 149 | 100% | 117 | 100% | 12 | 100% | 401 |
Source: 2019/2020 Questionnaire data.
To understand the relation between teaching experience and the three main positive factors of their profession, nine alternative answers were presented, as follows: a) teaching activity; b) workload; c) stability; d) career plan; e) interpersonal fulfillment; f) personal fulfillment; g) interpersonal relationships; h) autonomy; and i) salary. The results are shown below (Table 10); however, it was not possible to carry out the association test to cross the data due to the independence principle since the respondent could choose more than one option for the main positive alternatives regarding their profession.
Table 10 Experience in years and main positive alternatives regarding their profession.
| Experience in years / Main positive alternatives | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | Not answered | Total | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | ||
| 0-5 years | 57 | 16% | 32 | 9% | 33 | 10% | 23 | 7% | 11 | 3% | 70 | 20% | 15 | 4% | 78 | 23% | 24 | 7% | 3 | 1% | 346 | |
| 6-10 years | 46 | 16% | 21 | 7% | 40 | 14% | 21 | 7% | 3 | 1% | 40 | 14% | 24 | 8% | 67 | 24% | 21 | 7% | 1 | 0% | 284 | |
| 11-15 years | 19 | 12% | 12 | 8% | 25 | 16% | 10 | 6% | 2 | 1% | 28 | 18% | 14 | 9% | 34 | 22% | 10 | 6% | 0 | 0% | 154 | |
| 16-20 years | 25 | 15% | 2 | 1% | 25 | 15% | 12 | 7% | 0 | 0% | 30 | 19% | 20 | 12% | 35 | 22% | 12 | 7% | 1 | 1% | 162 | |
| 21-25 years | 41 | 19% | 11 | 5% | 35 | 17% | 10 | 5% | 3 | 1% | 43 | 20% | 13 | 6% | 44 | 21% | 11 | 5% | 0 | 0% | 211 | |
| Over 25 years | 6 | 9% | 2 | 3% | 11 | 16% | 6 | 9% | 0 | 0% | 15 | 21% | 5 | 7% | 16 | 23% | 7 | 10% | 2 | 3% | 70 | |
| Total | 194 | 16% | 80 | 7% | 169 | 14% | 82 | 7% | 19 | 2% | 226 | 18% | 91 | 7% | 274 | 22% | 85 | 7% | 7 | 1% | 1227 | |
Source: 2019/2020 Questionnaire data.
The main positive alternatives for those teachers were autonomy (22%), personal fulfillment (18%), and teaching activity (16%). In all groups that had more experience in years, the main factor was autonomy; the second most voted alternative was personal fulfillment for those in the 0-5 years of professional activity group (20%); those with 6-10 years (16%); the 11-15 year group (18%); in the group of professionals with 16-20 years of experience (19%); among those with 21-25 years (20%); and finally, those with over 25 years of teaching experience (21%). The third alternative was the teaching activity for professionals with 0-5 years in the career (16%); while the fourth was stability (14%) and personal fulfillment (14%) for teachers with 6-10 years in the profession. The fifth most chosen alternative was stability (16%) for teachers with 11-15 years of experience, while those with 16-20 years in the career chose equally the teaching activity and the stability alternatives, both with 15%. Teachers with 21-25 years of experience opted for the teaching activity (19%), while those with over 25 years in the profession chose stability (16%).
The teachers’ opinion about their level of social recognition was observed to be bad (30%) and average (30%) (Table 12).
Table 12 Experience in years and social recognition level.
| Experience in years / Level of social recognition | Very bad | Bad | Average | Good | Very good | Not answered | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | |
| 0-5 years | 11 | 10% | 31 | 27% | 36 | 32% | 24 | 21% | 7 | 6% | 5 | 4% | 114 |
| 6-10 years | 16 | 17% | 29 | 31% | 29 | 31% | 15 | 16% | 3 | 3% | 3 | 3% | 95 |
| 11-15 years | 7 | 15% | 14 | 29% | 11 | 23% | 6 | 13% | 7 | 15% | 3 | 6% | 48 |
| 16-20 years | 13 | 25% | 19 | 37% | 12 | 23% | 5 | 10% | 2 | 4% | 1 | 2% | 52 |
| 21-25 years | 9 | 13% | 24 | 35% | 25 | 36% | 9 | 13% | 1 | 1% | 1 | 1% | 69 |
| Over 25 years | 3 | 13% | 5 | 22% | 8 | 35% | 6 | 26% | 0% | 1 | 4% | 23 | |
| Total | 59 | 15% | 122 | 30% | 121 | 30% | 65 | 16% | 20 | 5% | 14 | 3% | 401 |
Source: 2019/2020 Questionnaire data.
We observed that for the 32% less experienced, that is, those with 0-5 years of experience, the level of recognition showed an average indicator. However, for 31% of the teachers with 6-10 years in the profession, it was bad, while it was also classified as average by another 31% of the respondents in this group. In the group with 11-15 years of experience, 29% considered the profession social recognition bad; 37% of those with 16-20 years in the career also found it bad, while 36% of the participants with 21-25 years of experience and 35% of the most experienced with over 25 years in the profession believed their professional social recognition was average. Experience in years was associated with the perception of social recognition, which could be confirmed by the analysis of the percentages that showed that at the beginning of the career, teachers believed that society in general showed an average level of recognition. However, over the years, when they were more experienced, they recognized a bad level of recognition, and went back to believing in an average social recognition toward the end of their teaching career.
This study analyzed the research data to identify the relation between teaching experience in years and aspects related to the profession. From the general picture of quantitative and qualitative deepening and understanding, the results reinforced the need for further studies in the Brazilian context to understand the teaching professional life cycle integrated to different dimensions and from the objectivity-subjectivity unit, adopting a biographical approach that is at the same time socio-historical, which we intend to develop in the future.
3 Final Considerations
The results of this study showed that the teachers’ main factor of professional choice was their specific interest in the profession for those in the medium and intermediary phase of their careers, while for the most experienced, this was the second option. This allowed us to state that although there are less young professionals in the career, the choice of this career is mostly related to the individuals’ interest in the profession.
The feeling about their career was that explained by Huberman (2000) as the phase in which teachers make experimentations and live a moment of diversification, when they feel certain rupture with the pedagogical rigidity, and start to create and innovate in their work without following teaching books strictly. In this sense, we observed that the issue of phases or cycles presented by that author was not confirmed by the research subjects. We think that marks, working conditions, and the personal lives of the participants were emphasized in their experiences, which led the teachers to have moments of dissatisfaction/satisfaction, investment/disinvestment, and even suffering.
Significant statistical difference was observed between their experience in years and the degree of professional fulfillment regarding their salary and the school infrastructure, that is, the professionals, according to their experience, noticed homogeneously the other factors investigated, but presented different levels of fulfillment for salary and school infrastructure.
The three most chosen positive factors of their profession were: first, autonomy; second, personal fulfillment, except for professionals with 6-10 years of experience, who chose the teaching activity; and, third, stability, except for those with 0-5 years and 21-25 years in the career. Regarding the relation between experience in years and the level of positivity, significant statistical difference was only observed for stability, which means that this factor according to the years of teaching experience generated different and statistically significant results. Their perception of social recognition of their profession also presented statistical significance with the years of experience since teachers with over 25 years of experience expressed more homogeneous opinions.
The statistical data and the qualitative analysis pointed to the (lived experience) concept, which has not been deepened in Brazil yet and was introduced by Vygotsky (2010) as the concept able to explain the development of the human awareness in relation to their social environment. According to that author, perejivânie always refers to something that impacts the subjects, transforming them, changing them, and, therefore, also changes their relations with certain reality, thus making them elect the marks of the professional life cycle, but not necessarily its phases. When a subject goes through a perejivânie situation, nothing remains the same, his/her attitude in relation to the situation experienced changes, and the individuals start to have another relation with the object by which they were affected in the social situation.
In this way not only cycles are built up, but in fact a spiral movement develops, with an apparent internal organization, built up within the chaos that integrates all human being. Experiences are sources of affection and, therefore, mediate the production of meanings that constitute the subjects’ particular ways of being, thinking, and acting in addition to representing the essential and constitutive unit, since it is the unit that explains the development as a result of convergences and battles experienced in the social and material relations in one’s life.
According to Vygotsky (2010), the perejivânie category helps to explain that the awareness development is at the same time a rational and affective process, linked to the individuals’ real lives, that is, their own existence. Lived experiences join both the awareness and the affective relation with the environment, and the individuals with themselves, for which they are available in the conscious activity to understand the events (VYGOTSKI, 2010). Thus, although the professional life cycle concept has not been abandoned, there is a trend toward the perejivânie category, since this category enables individuals to investigate the phenomena of the human existence, in this study, it was applied specifically to the participants’ professional life and the processes generated by it.
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Received: February 18, 2022; Revised: August 09, 2022; Accepted: August 10, 2022
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