Representações Sociais de docência construídas a partir da mídia e suas possíveis reverberações em professores de Ciências da Natureza

Abstract

The general aim of this research was to understand the possible social representations about teaching expressed by Uberaba citizens on social networks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and to discuss its possible impacts on science teachers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two science teachers working in the Uberaba municipal school system and who worked during the pandemic period. Information related to the local media was collected on an open Facebook page called "Jornal da Manhã". The page was chosen because of the number of subscribers, which makes it one of the main news communities in the region. Posts and comments referring to the period of closure and reopening of schools in the city of Uberaba - MG, during the pandemic moment between 2020 and 2021, were observed. The data was interpreted from the perspective of the theory of social representations, a perspective proposed by Serge Moscovici. This research is supported by the culturalist approach. To analyze the data, we used the content analysis, creating six categories, one of which was subdivided into subcategories. The results showed that: a) the social group of Uberabense citizens have representations about teaching during the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and that most of the shared representations are negative, where they understand that teachers were not working during the pandemic period and b) the social group shares an understanding and recognition of the importance of work and teacher safety during the pandemic period. The analysis of the reports showed that the content and even the title influenced the possible formation and establishment of representations of the social group, since after the analysis, it was observed that the comments dialogued with the content of the news articles. Finally, through the interviews conducted, it was possible to ascertain the teachers' conceptions of the importance of science, how they understand the role of the teacher and their feelings about the comments made by the social group that was the focus of the research. It is hoped that this research can contribute to the reframing of how teaching is understood by society. Furthermore, the research highlights the potential of social media for the study of social representations.