Meanings of teaching work in uruguayan secondary education

Abstract

This paper study meanings of the teaching work in Uruguayan secondary education, as a clear type of non-classical, immaterial type of work, included within the definition of “work with others”. From a configurational perspective and a qualitative methodology, we analyse teaching discourses in one hundred and ten documents and twenty interviews. Results allow us to identify four types of meanings of teaching work: as care, as fulfilment of indicators, as a market agency, and as promotion of emancipation. We understand that teachers oppose to the first three senses, embracing an emancipatory sense of their work. We conclude that the analysis of teaching work contributes to the development of studies in immaterial work and particularly “work with others”, as well as to the development of a sociology of school recognition.