Knowledge from teaching experience and health

case study in a municipal school in Belo Horizonte

Abstract

Through the present research, reported in this thesis, we sought to investigate the relationship between the human activity of teaching work and the health status of teachers at an elementary school in the Municipal Education Network of Belo Horizonte (RME/BH). Its motivation was the analysis of the systematization of information compiled through documentary research, relating to the period from January 2017 to February 2020, to understand teacher absenteeism due to illness. These data made it possible to identify the Torre de Pisa Municipal School which has a low rate of absenteeism due to illness. Starting from the hypothesis that work does not make people sick, but rather the conditions established by it, in the exercise of teaching, the central question was formulated: Under the same working conditions, what is the relationship between teaching work and the health status of teachers? of Elementary School? The general objective was: to analyze the relationship between teaching work and the health status of teachers, which results in a low rate of teacher absenteeism due to illness. The study is justified for numerous reasons, including: current affairs; concerns about the situation of education workers; theoretical contribution on possible ways for teachers to protect themselves against pathological manifestations. The theoretical framework related the themes of absenteeism, human development, work and teacher health. The qualitative-quantitative approach was adopted methodologically, and data collection strategies included observation, questionnaires and interviews. The interviews were processed using the IRAMUTEQ software, which allowed analyzes in six categories: physical infrastructure/materiality; obstacles; motivation for choosing teaching; internal relations; relations with the Municipal Department of Education; and interpersonal relationships. The research made it possible to understand and study teacher well-being at the Torre de Pisa Municipal School. It was found that 30% of teachers are exposed to stress; 50% feel exhausted; 80% resilient and 40% creative; 50% are happy and optimistic. Despite the intensification and overload of work found to be exhausting and compromising the body itself, the teachers show normality in their ability to organize themselves. The analyzes allowed us to understand the effort made by teachers to separate the objective knowledge that transfigures teaching into life from their work activity, enabling humanization and maintenance of health status. The health of teachers results from the ability to create new standards for teaching, in response to fluctuations in the environment.