Respeto docente y convivencia escolar: Significados y estrategias en escuelas chilenas

Abstract

Currently, Chilean teachers are going through a devaluation crisis of their role as a result of multiple neoliberal policies, although many considered themselves as valued by their student and nearby community. The loss of respect for their authority due to this devaluation is confronted through strategies with multiple approaches and consequences, which shows how the teaching role has a profound impact on school coexistence. This study sought to describe and analyze meanings and strategies regarding teacher respect, and its relationship with school coexistence. A study based on Grounded Theory was reached out, interviewing teachers, students, families and school personnel. The content analysis showed a diversity of meanings of teacher respect, and a continuum of strategies that are located in two poles: obedience-authoritarianism, and recognition-appreciation-closeness. The results are discussed around the current policies, the context of socio-educational vulnerability in which the teachers of this study work, and the consequences that these strategies have for an harmonious school coexistence.