Teaching quality: resilience and commitment in the stories and contexts of expert university teachers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54674/ess.v34i1.528
Keywords: teacher quality - higher education teaching - experienced professors - professional cycles

Abstract

Studies about teaching as a profession have been numerous and have addressed different aspects that involve personal, cultural, economical, and pedagogical dimensions. One of the most published contemporary literature is Huberman’s (1995), which analyses the professional teaching journey starting from professional career cycles. Day and Gu (2013) discuss Hubermann’s findings, based on their own investigation, stating that professors’ professional life path is not always linear and different teaching groups express similar necessities and inquiries, no matter their career life. Our investigative intention had professors’ paths with broad experience in their profession and recognized intellectual capacity. What interested us was to understand how they built the knowledge that turned them into references in their areas of knowledge as well as how these professional tracks. For this study’s we invited professors with a significant teaching path of two scientific areas: Geosciences and Education. Data have been collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed under Analysis of Content inspiration. Their discourses have been interpreted starting from Crosswell (2006, apud Day and Gu, p.153) based on what the author calls commitments. The testimonials of this study reinforce that resilience in this profession as well as well-being can rely on their working conditions and subjective conditions. The satisfactory combination between external policies and the institutional environment benefits professors to their full potential.  The dimension of passion for the function, however, the love they feel for their field of knowledge and the enjoyment of being together with students establish the basis for their well-being in their occupation. 

 

Author Biography

Maria Isabel Da Cunha, Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil

Atualmente é professora colaboradora do Programa de Pós Graduação em Educação da Universidade Federal de Pelotas, onde foi Pró Reitora de Graduação. Atuou também no PPG de Educação da Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS). É doutora em educação pela Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Tem estudos de pós-doutoramento na Universidade Complutense de Madri e realizou Estágio Senior na Universidade de Sevilha. Tem coordenado projetos de cooperação internacional com Portugal e Argentina. Dedica-se à área da formação de professores e à pedagogia universitária. Possui diversos livros, capítulos e artigos publicados. É pesquisadora 1 A do (CNPq).

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Published
2022-07-29
How to Cite
Da Cunha, M. I. (2022). Teaching quality: resilience and commitment in the stories and contexts of expert university teachers. Higher Education and Society Journal (ESS), 34(1), 206-229. https://doi.org/10.54674/ess.v34i1.528
Issue
Vol 34 No 1 (2022): Thematic Dossier A: Higher Education and Quality and Thematic Dossier B: Mutually Inclusive Internationalization of Higher Education.
Section
Articles Thematic Dossier A

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