Educação e a conduta moral do professor da educação infantil

Abstract

This study aims to analyze, based on the theoretical foundations of morality, the work of childhood education teachers, taking into account their pedagogic practices, with a focus on the concepts of adaptation and autonomy, within the framework of critical theory. The theoretical framework centers on the theory of morality developed by Émile Durkheim and the moral indications for contemporary society formulated by Max Horkheimer. Both allow the approximation of the notions of morality and social coexistence. The concepts of adaptation and autonomy are based on the writings of Theodor Adorno. The principal empirical information used in this study was taken from two different researches, one describing scenes which occurred in classrooms, the other based on accounts by teachers, carried out in 2009 and 2014 respectively. The study, therefore, is ex post facto, and draws on material from other researches. From the data obtained, an attempt was made to: 1) identify the moral questions present in the act of teaching in childhood education and in teacher-student relationships; 2) describe the teacher’s conduct and opinion when faced with moral issues; 3) analyze reported problems, correlating them to the teacher’s and the student’s adaptation process and to the development of the student’s autonomy. In broad terms, this study concludes that childhood education teachers face moral conflicts, in particular when articulating pedagogic proposals and in their work with the children, given the specific needs of the 0 to 6 age group, and in the manner in which they conduct themselves in relation to the child’s expected behavior, in order to ensure school discipline