Teaching in the XXI century: personal and social aspects of teachers' well-being

Abstract

The background research for this article had as its aim to understand the main personal and social factors that can contribute with the development of teachers' well-being, with teachers who work or worked for more than twenty years in elementary school. The research, of qualitative approach, was based on life stories of five teachers from state public network in Santa Catarina, suggested by scholar managers, from criteria, defined by Delphi method. The results pointed that a set of factors may influence the development of teachers' uneasiness or well-being. Such factorsmay be external (context), referring to the conditions of teaching practice, as well as internal, referring to the mode each subject reacts to problems and issues they face. Among external factors, it is possible to highlight the conditions of welcoming existing at school and the support from other social spheres. As for internal factors, it is possible to highlight the capacity of resilience, the use of strategies of coping and the orientations referring to Locus of Control (internal or external). we may conclude, thus, that teaching work can be a source of fullfillment, pleasure and joy. However, teachers, facing the complexity and imporntace of their work, besides the support of school and other social spheres, need the disposition and capacity of facing everyday challenges by eustrés and the use of strategies of coping to seek for solutions for challenges that are inherent to teaching profession.