A profissão docente na cidade de Pelotas: Associação Sul Rio-Grandense de Professores e Associação Católica de Professores (décadas de 1930 e 1940).

Abstract

This thesis discusses teachers´ work as a profession, considering its social prestigious during the period of 1930 and 1940, in the context of Pelotas, a historical town in South Brazil. It analyzes many aspects of two relevant associations – Associação Sul Rio-Grandense de Professores (Teachers Association of the State of Rio Grande do Sul) and Associação Católica de Professores e Cultura Social (Teachers Catholic Association and Social Culture), related to how these associations have influenced teachers in terms of the making of their professionalization. It was established the period of the decades of 1930 and 1940, firstly because it matches the year of their creation (1930), and it was also an important time for educational policies in Brazil for the second half of the Twenty Century, when it is possible to note significant national policies for public education and schooling. It uses oral and written historical sources. The oral sources were collected through interviews with female teachers that had worked at this time. The written sources were documents and texts founded at the Associação Sul Rio-Grandense de Professores (reports of board meetings and assemblies) and three publications that have circulated in Pelotas – the Catholic Bulletin “A Palavra” (The Word), and two newspapers: “Diário Popular”, and “A Opinião Pública”. The Associação Sul Rio-Grandense de Professores and the Associação Católica de Professores e Cultura Social have achieved crucial role in empowering social prestigious of teachers in that period. The associations can be considered very representative institutions and have contributed to professionalism of teaching force, stimulating acts of integration, congregation, and organizing events for teacher education, such as courses, conferences, and so on.