Teacher's Day: a professional in the crosshairs

The social isolation imposed by the pandemic crisis still takes a heavy toll today, especially for teachers, who have few reasons to celebrate the passing of their day, this Sunday (15).

Once the most acute period of Covid-19 had been overcome, the return of the in-person teaching model highlighted the barriers raised by the accelerated digitalization of the economy, which opened up space for the adoption of new, eminently virtual, standards of learning. Contrary to what one might imagine, student-teacher interaction has become more inconsistent and ephemeral, as is seen daily in personal contact between them.

As a result, the void in this 'relationship' has been occupied by increasingly frequent cases of violence and common practices of 'hate speech' in classroom (when they do not lead to physical aggression) but also, through the virtual environment, as experts and even trade unions involved in the matter.

In general, such attacks end up producing physical and mental consequences for teachers, who need to deal with the problem and still continue working, for reasons of survival.

An example of this situation can be given by the avalanche of complaints received by the State Union of Education Professionals of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Sepe), which refer to situations of embarrassment and insults triggered by messages published on social networks or through direct communications through the application Whatsapp.

The entity's coordinator, Helenita Beserra, emphasizes that “we have a large group of professionals here who are feeling persecuted. They enter their social networks to patrol their political position and aggressively contest publications there. These cases are becoming commonplace and professionals are suffering from this psychological pressure and stress.”

Regrettable episode – Another regrettable episode involved, a few weeks ago, educators at Colégio Pedro II, in Rio de Janeiro, in which a English teacher was slapped by a student, who accepted the 'challenge' to commit the attack, launched by the social network Tik Tok. But there are more serious cases, of virtual lynchings, cyberbullying and unauthorized recordings.

Faced with these situations, the unions' guidance is that professionals report the incident to the authorities, to identify the aggressor and hold him responsible for the country. “In more serious cases against professionals, we make the legal department available to help them face this. When the situation is even more delicate, the right thing to do is go to a police station to register the police. Preferably one specializing in cyber crimes”, adds the Sepe coordinator.

A rivalry between digital devices and teachers. This is the thesis defended by professor in the education department at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and researcher Antônio Soares Zuin, in his book “Cyberbullying against teachers”, published in 2007.

“Since the beginning of teaching-learning relationships, teachers have been responsible for maintaining students’ focus on content. Various methodologies have been developed to ensure this. From the dialogic route to the application of physical and psychological punishments. Nowadays, it takes a lot of effort to maintain attention and read any content in depth, since we want to stay connected to the cell phones all the time” analyzes Zuin, adding that, “for students, it becomes absolutely unbearable to focus for hours on a figure like the teacher. And then, they end up, in a way, taking revenge against this figure who has historically been responsible for maintaining their attention.”

Authoritative image – In the assessment of the doctor in education and professor at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) and author of the book “Cyberbullying: hate, virtual violence and the teaching profession”, Telma Brito Rocha, when the school does not encourage dialogue, this contributes to reinforcing an authoritarian image of teachers towards students. “We know that the teacher suffers from a series of daily violence. But it is also necessary to understand how student aggression can be echoes of school practices”, says the writer.

From the student's point of view, Telma observes that “this violence often comes from the teacher, who persecutes students because of certain behaviors in the classroom. There is repression in relation to how the student sits, how they speak, how they dress, how they should behave and be in the environment. This all ends up generating revolts, which in turn can generate other violence.”

In common, both Antônio and Telma understand that the best solution to combat violence, whether in person or virtually, is transform the school into a permanent place for dialogue and conflict resolution, so that students have the freedom to express their dissatisfactions.

Once the diagnosis has been made regarding the noise that permeates the teacher-student interaction, Telma points out that “the educational space is a space of conflict and cooperation. It is not always a peaceful place, where people will smile all the time. We have to look for a pedagogical way to solve problems. It’s not about eliminating the student who was attacked, sending them to another school and transferring the problem. We need public authorities, education departments, to invest in multidisciplinary teams. The problem increasingly requires strategies that can deal with this complexity and involve different areas of knowledge”, says Telma Brito Rocha.

Time for self-criticism – Zuin, in turn, understands that “the teacher has to resize the meaning of educational authority. Mainly in the sense of carrying out a kind of self-criticism, of not wanting to persuade the student that he is the owner of the truth. Furthermore, the school should promote spaces and situations in which teachers, students and parents can come together and try to understand why violence is happening, to try to establish certain actions joint. If there is a space conducive to these pedagogical social contracts, the practice of cyberbullying tends to fall”, says Antônio Zuin.

Prevention starts in childhood – Author of the program Media education in practice” – aimed at projects that develop digital education aimed at children – professor Maria Sylvia Spínola emphasizes that this can be a way of preventing and combating violence on the Internet, as it includes children in the 5th year (on average, aged between ten and 11). years). In addition to focusing on the formation of critical sense and responsibility in virtual environments, learning includes the use of search mechanisms, fact checking, differentiation between opinion and information, and critical and ethical behavior on networks social.

“When we work on issues of bullying, scams, harassment or violence that happen on the internet, children can often tell when they are victims. But they can't tell when they are being aggressive or using inappropriate language. I work from this perspective too”, says Maria Sylvia, for whom, “considering that media education is based on the formation of citizenship, which helps in the good use of tools and how to express oneself in a responsible way, I believe that we are contributing to the construction of a ethical citizen.”

Social engagement – However, the professor emphasizes, “educational institutions are not the only ones responsible for preventing violence and inappropriate behavior by students online. It is necessary to involve the whole of society in this process. We need to consider all social, emotional issues, and family environments. Many children do not have parental guidance on the good use of the internet and are not involved in safe practices. The school is highly regarded as the responsible party for educating society, and we forget the importance of involving the family and public authorities. It's that maxim, you can't educate a child without the movement of an entire village”.