ABORDAGENS TEÓRICAS PARA COMPREENSÃO DO PROCESSO DE VERTICALIZAÇÃO DO TRABALHO DOCENTE NOS INSTITUTOS FEDERAIS DE EDUCAÇÃO

Abstract

In this work, resulting from doctoral research carried out at the University of Minho, Portugal, we present some theoretical approaches for understanding teaching work in the verticalised education proposed by Law No. 11,892/2008 on the implementation and expansion of the Federal Network for Professional, Scientific and Technological Education (RFEPCT). The objective was to problematise the transformations in teaching work in IFs in terms of the ‘policy of action’ and ‘performativity’ (Ball, 2011; Ball, Maguice and Braun, 2021) expected of teachers in the activities they develop in teaching, research and extension of IFs, in the face of verticalised teaching. For the cover of this book, we chose Anita Malfatti's work entitled ‘A Ventania’ (The Windstorm) and, in the introduction, Manoel de Barros' poem entitled ‘O Vento’ (The Wind). Both painting and poetry are spaces that provide a vision of the movement we proposed to carry out in this work as a whole. In seeking to understand the work of teachers in the face of the transformations brought about by verticalised teaching in IFs, we see the imposition of the verticalisation proposal as a windstorm, which arrives unexpectedly with promises of rain and storms, but also of sunshine and spring. The policy implemented is, above all, ‘acted upon’ by individuals within the institution, in a dialectical relationship that is both material and immaterial, felt like the wind that touches, sways and moves everything around it, sometimes sweeping away, sometimes calming, but always mobilising and changing everything, the structures, the structuring elements, the subjects who act there, and, like Manoel de Barros, we dare to ‘give the wind a concrete form and make it photogenic’. Thus, teaching work in IFs is analysed in this work based on an understanding of the aforementioned law, which, according to the analytical theoretical paths we have proposed, provides for a ‘performativity’ (Ball, 2011), imbued with teaching, research and extension activities provided for teachers who manifest themselves in the ‘policy of action’ of these subjects, that is, the relationship established between policy and practice, considering that institutions are “unique places for policy implementation, (...) where those who work in schools highlight the different ways in which the same policies can be interpreted and translated into practice” (Ball, Maguice and Braun, 2021, p. 21). The work is organised into three chapters. We begin Chapter 1, Federal Institutes of Education: the history of their establishment, with a discussion of the history of the establishment of the IFs, accompanied by some historical aspects of Brazilian Professional Education (EPT). In Chapter 2, Work, training and teacher identity: theoretical perspectives, we discuss teaching work, professional teaching knowledge and practices, and teacher identity. Finally, in Chapter 3, The process of verticalisation of teaching work in IFs: the policy in action, we promote a discussion on the theoretical concepts adopted of ‘policy of action’ and ‘performativity’ (Ball, 2011; Ball, Maguice and Braun, 2021) to understand teaching work in IFs – the process of verticalisation of teaching work in IFs.