Affectivity of University Teachers: Personal, Social and Institutional Aspects

Abstract

Our research presents reports of 20 university teachers, both genders, from different cities of Rio Grande do Sul-BR, about what they think about affectivity in their teaching, aiming to clarify which aspects would be important to be developed by teachers and students, to contribute to better learning and well-being in the university environment, with interviews, analyzing their responses with qualitative technique of content analysis, described by Morais. The theoretical framework is mainly based on studies of: Gardner, Damasio, Casassus, Ekman, Goleman, with details on the development of emotions and feelings; complemented by Mosquera and Stobaus ideas, working in the Research Group Malaise and Wellness in Teaching and Affectivity: expression of feelings in Education. The analysis revealed eight categories: 1) Feelings/emotions in teaching; 2) Behavioral Expression of feelings/emotions; 3) Self-concept in the educational environment; 4) Affectivity and interpersonal relations in educational environment; 5) Affectivity and professional qualification; 6) Affectivity as facilitating/disturbing of learning; 7) Affectivity and identification with the profession; and 8) Affectivity related to Health and Education. As results we emphasize that affectivity/feelings of university teachers is, first, directed to the Personal Aspects (categories 1, 2, 3, 7), second, focused on Social Aspects (categories 4, 6, 8) and, finally, to Institutional Aspects (category 5), which in general leads to the understanding that, for the teachers interviewed, affect is very important in the educational context and depends on individual training (self) so you can be used positively in this environment as a tool for learning, and for healthy interpersonal relationships (contextualization).