O exercício da docência e a preservação da saúde mental do professor: um estudo a partir de suas condições de trabalho e existência

Abstract

The initial aim of the current work was the investigation of the possible relations between the conditions of teaching and teachers' mental illness. Its starting point was an analysis based on epidemiologic data from the patients of the André Luiz Hospital. The results of this research suggested the possibility of the relationship between the teaching conditions and teachers' mental illness pointed above. In asecond step, we performed a case study in a municipal school in the city of Belo Horizonte, not only to know a successful experience, but also to go deeper on the knowledge about the causes of high rates of illness observed in this professional. In this stage, we used the clinical observations of the teachers work and the biographical method proposed by Louis Le Guillant (2006). The results indicatethat preserving the teachers health depends on the association between individual characteristics and a particular way of work organization that allows the creation, from the available resources and the establishment of exchanges of experiences with their peers, of innovative ways to conduct their work.