<b>Social representations related to primary school male teachers and the unavoidable associations with female teachers

Abstract

Compared to the number of female teachers, the presence of male teachers in primary school is proportionally unequal. Based on this premise, this work intends to investigate the parents’ social representations of primary school students enrolled in the public education in a country town of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, regarding male teachers’ professional performance at this stage of education. For this purpose, content analysis was used, using semi structured interviews as a tool. Three social representations were more frequently identified in the discursive manifestations of respondents: primary school male teachers are more respectable and/or have more authority; primary school male teachers are more rational/balanced than female teachers; primary school male teachers are the father figure at school. Contrary to the representations related to male teachers’ professional performance, social representations related to female teachers’ professional performance were identified. The results indicate that family duties are imposed upon education professionals, including male teachers. It was concluded that, for the interviewed mothers, the preference for male or female teachers is more associated with the fulfillment of family duties than the educator roles. .