“Good Work” and the training of pedagogues

Abstract

Abstract The exploratory research aimed at analyzing how students of the Pedagogy Licentiate Course understand the Good Work concept, which is based on principles of excellence, ethics, and engagement. To that end, activities proposed by the GoodWork Toolkit were developed and contemplated the three dimensions of the concept. 18 licentiate degree students attending the final year of the Pedagogy program at a state university in Paraná took part in the investigation. The results indicate that issues related to excellence and, in a more restrict way, to ethics are strongly present in the participants’ comprehensions, although they primarily focus on individual components and those of the activity’s scope, to the detriment of aspects that are linked to the education field and the broader society. The engagement dimension – which focuses on personal satisfaction and accomplishment when performing professionally, as well as on the meaning that work acquires to the self – ends up in the background because of the necessity and survival aspects associated with work, and, also, to the emphasis given to the qualified practice of the functions. The analyses suggest the relevance in deepening, in the teacher training, subjects related to professional ethics, in addition to the commitment and responsibilities that embrace not just the individual scope but also the impacts of work on the society. It is also important to emphasize, in Pedagogy courses, the engagement dimension, which can even help to give a new meaning to teaching as a calling.