VIOLENCE IN EDUCATION: CONSIDERATIONS OF VIOLATED TEACHERS

ABSTRACT

The research aimed to understand the violence related to education, subsidized by Historical-Cultural Psychology (HCP), and to know what teachers from state schools in a municipality in Paraná express about violence in education. It had bibliographic and field investigations. Theoretical studies on violence in the current capitalist society and their impacts on the social constitution of the human psyche were recovered. The field investigation was carried out through semi-structured interviews with fourteen teachers who suffered strong police violence in protest against the dismantling of public education, addressing their perceptions of the violence manifested at school. The results of the investigations point to the multicausal and structural factors of violence in education, and the designation of school violence is not appropriate. Teachers, despite being impacted by the violence they suffered, did not give up their professional activities in favor of human training.

Keywords:
violence; education; historical-cultural psychology

RESUMO

A pesquisa teve como objetivos compreender a violência relacionada à educação, subsidiada pela Psicologia Histórico-Cultural (PHC) e conhecer o que expressam professores de escolas estaduais de um município do Paraná sobre a violência na educação. Contou com investigações bibliográfica e de campo. Recuperaram-se estudos teóricos sobre violência na atual sociedade capitalista e seus impactos sobre a constituição social do psiquismo humano. A investigação de campo foi elaborada por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas com catorze professores que sofreram forte violência policial em protesto contra o desmonte da educação pública, abordando-se suas percepções sobre a violência manifesta na escola. Os resultados das investigações apontam para os fatores multicausais e estruturais da violência na educação, não sendo adequada a designação de violência escolar. Os professores, mesmo impactados com a violência sofrida, não desistiram de suas atuações profissionais em prol da formação humana.

Palavras-chave:
violência; educação; psicologia histórico-cultura

RESUMEN

En la investigación se tuvo como objetivos comprender la violencia relacionada a la educación, subsidiada Psicología Histórico-Cultural (PHC), y conocer lo que expresan profesores de escuelas estaduales de un municipio de Paraná sobre la violencia en la educación. Contó con investigaciones bibliográfica y de campo. Se recuperaron estudios teóricos sobre violencia en la actual sociedad capitalista y sus impactos sobre la constitución social del psiquismo humano. La investigación de campo fue elaborada por intermedio de entrevistas semiestructuradas con catorce profesores que sufrieron fuerte violencia policial en protesta contra el desmontaje de la educación pública, abordándose sus percepciones sobre la violencia manifiesta en la escuela. Los resultados de las investigaciones apuntan para los factores multicausales y estructurales de la violencia en la educación, no siendo adecuada la designación de violencia escolar. Los profesores, aún impactados con la violencia sufrida, no desistieron de sus actuaciones profesionales en pro de la formación humana.

Palabras clave:
violencia; educación; psicología histórico-cultural

INTRODUCTION

This article addresses research limited to violence related to education and aimed to: understand violence related to education, supported by Historical-Cultural Psychology and know what public school teachers in the state network of a municipality in the West of Paraná express about the violence in education. The search of these objectives aimed at possible contributions of School Psychology to face this phenomenon.

As we noted the need for Psychology - as a science that studies the human psyche and seeks to explain it - to manifest itself about this topic, the research provided opportunities for the teachers’ expression, in a listening process in a moment of great commotion, after the police violence occurred on 04/29/2015, in Curitiba-PR. We consider that Psychology cannot avoid analyzing the relationships permeated and/or locked in the midst of violence. To face something as serious as what happened, society needs to have more elements that allow knowing what happened to teachers and education officials in that situation. We also consider that Historical-Cultural Psychology (HCP) has a theoretical scope to understand the impacts of violence on education and on the constitution of professionals working in schools.

Certain of the breadth of our research theme “violence in education”, since it has several consequences, we delimit violence in public education under the capitalist organization and the current model of society. We present different studies in this regard that address causes, concepts, manifestations and actions to confront their different forms, such as, for example, Martin-Baró (1997, 2015), Chauí (1999), Castro, Abramovay, Rua and Andrade (2001), Silva (2006), Vázquez (1977) and Barroco and Costa (2014). These selected studies were carried out before 2015, the year in which the teachers of the Paraná state education system suffered great violence when they took a stand against the state government, because, among other things, it was diverting values ​​that compromised the financial health of Paraná social security and the retirement of education workers. The event was widely reported by the Brazilian and international press and generated a specific research called “A violência na educação: o que expressam professors das escolas públicas da rede estadual no município de Cascavel/PR que passaram por situações de violência”¹ (Carvalho, 2017) .

In the midst of situations such as the one mentioned above, we emphasize the importance of recovering HCP studies in relation to the fundamental role of schools in human development, based on classic authors such as Vygotski ² (2000); Vigotski (1996), Leontiev (1978; 1988) and Luria (1979), who assume that the human psyche is historically and socially constituted. Thus, investigating the phenomenon of violence related to education imposed the exercise of going beyond appearance - which does not reveal its multiple determinations immediately. In this context, violence in education cannot be seen only as distinct episodes, but as an articulated whole, as a violent reality.

According to what has already been published by different authors, none of the aspects that refer to violence were considered finalized in their investigations - not least because it is a phenomenon that has been worsening. This is evident in surveys such as the (PeNSE)³, carried out in 2009, 2012 and 2015 by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and the Ministry of Health, in which students from the 9th grade of Elementary School and students from 13 to 17 years old participated.

In the World Report on Violence and Health 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) presents a concept that it had been working on since 1996 and that has been the subject of different resolutions of this organization since 1986, “Violence is the intentional use of force physical or power, actual or threatened, against an individual, or against a group or a community, which results or is likely to result in injury, death, psychological damage, developmental impairment or deprivation” (2014, p. 84) .

The PeNSE 2012 already assumed this concept considering violence as a problem for the criminal justice and defense sectors. In PeNSE 2015, as in previous editions, forms of violence suffered by students in the family and school environment were researched, such as bullying and fights, physical aggression in public places with the use of firearms, injuries suffered, feelings of insecurity on the way home-school, school-home, traffic violence.

Violence is, therefore, a dynamic, growing phenomenon that, in each day or situation, reveals different facets in its expression, as well as in the precipitating facts.⁴ Considering the historical and relational character of the phenomenon of violence, Chauí (1999, p. 3) brings a concept about the subject:

[...] violence comes from the Latin vis, force, and means [...] everything that acts using force to go against the nature of some being (is denature); every act of force against someone’s spontaneity, will and freedom (is to coerce, constrain, torture, brutalize); every act of violation of the nature of someone or something positively valued by a society (is violating); every act of transgression against what someone or a society defines as just and as a right.

This conceptualization broadens the understanding of the meaning of violence and its real magnitude. Chauí (1999) theorizes that, as our society is structurally violent, social, economic and cultural inequalities, corruption, political, religious and sexual intolerance, authoritarianism in social relations and sexism, aspects considered forms of violence, are not hidden. For the author, being clear about the notion of violence allows for collective action in confronting it.

Martin-Baró (1997, 2015) stood out when analyzing violence in its structural origin and its multiple forms, its levels of significance and its historical effects. He points out that an act considered violent in a specific historical moment portrays the conflicts and social and economic determinations of that society. It presents several analyzes that served not only to confront the various coups d’état that took place in El Salvador between 1932 and 1972, but to understand the current days in Brazil and in the world. He discusses that violence is presented under different aspects and with the use of different strategies. It is original when it talks about the “slander institutionalization” (Martin Baró, 2015), as an action orchestrated by leaders, who consent to the condemnation and accountability of victims, discrediting them through slander, which produce justifications for using of violence, in favor of a given intended domination.

Silva (2006) reviews some studies about violence related to education, conceiving it as a social and historically determined phenomenon. Dealing with the teachers’ training to face violence at school, it points out that it is necessary for them to understand the way society is organized, to better support the related discussions and seek ways to deal with the people involved. The understanding of violence in education or at school has undergone changes throughout history, which requires a revision in its conceptualization, according to Costa (2014). This is not simple, as being a historical phenomenon, in its entirety, it is social and changeable and is constantly changing; takes on different facets. Some of the most comprehensive studies about violence and with multidimensional approaches have adopted a broader conceptualization, incorporating sociocultural and symbolic dimensions, as shown in published Brazilian research (Barreira, 1999; Minayo, 1999; Castro et al., 2001; Abramovay, 2002).

To support the conceptualization of this phenomenon, we recover what Vázquez (1977, p. 382) exposes in “Philosophy of Praxis”, where he talks about the naturalization of violence “as a way of life”: it is the violence of misery, hunger, and prostitution or illnesses, which is no longer the response to other potential or actual violence, but violence itself as a way of life because the very essence of the social system demands it.

For Vázquez (1977) violence, often considered natural and necessary, constitutes the essence of the bourgeois order; materialized both in the economic order and in its ideological support, with misery and poverty being the living conditions of a large part of the people. In addition, it creates conditions to maintain wealth for the enjoyment of a small portion of the population. Violence also involves economic, political and ideological aspects, having a relationship with the access or not to social rights and is closely related to the commodification of human relations.

In the direction pointed out by these authors, we chose the HCP as a supporting matrix for the research, as we consider that it presents explanatory elements of society and human beings in a historical-dialectical perspective. Through the HCP we recognize the social constitution of the psyche of those who rape, are raped, are impacted by violence, or even those who do not seem to mind it. In other words, the objective conditions of existence, the level of knowledge of the world, the way it is unveiled or unveiled, how its operating laws are taken from it and matter is extracted from it to compose the wealth of society, forward to the formation of what is properly human in the psyche: superior psychological functions (SPF), personality, consciousness.

From this perspective, we can say that the precariousness of the population’s living conditions results from the mode of production and the social relations derived from it. Thus, if we take capitalist society as a basis, we will see those men, in order to maintain/reproduce life, produce wealth and misery, impose and break rules and values, determine a given modus vivendi. This happens on a daily basis, in such a way that the processes that guarantee the established way of life come to be considered as natural, necessary, inexorable. However, History reveals that the different eras (Antiquity, Middle Ages, Modern Age and Contemporary Age) have specific modes of production; with social relationships that are their own and from which derive certain conceptions of life, society, and human beings.

Nowadays, under the uncontrollable reproduction of capital, we notice a befitting ideological apparatus, in which access to human achievements resulting from such accumulation in the various areas of life and knowledge is denied. This context, which has been accentuated in the last four decades, is continent to the intensification of violence in all social spaces, as is the case of the public school, either because it is being left in agony due to policies from a neoliberal perspective, or because of the process of socioeconomic exclusion that has intensified, leading to the resurgence of violence practices.

So frequent, social and school violence are understood as natural or inevitable, resulting from people (genetically compromised, emotionally shaken and/or educationally malformed) or from groups, entities, institutions or bodies that work detached from the totality, from the capitalist logic. This biological and naturalizing understanding does not recognize that violence is the expression of the struggle of antagonistic interests; that violence is intrinsically related to the struggle of antagonistic social classes.

Barroco and Costa (2014), in their studies on violence at school subsidized by the HCP, point out that violence is not only from the school, but manifests itself in it, as it occurs in any other spaces and institutions where the subjects are. From this perspective, it is considered essential to deconstruct the conception rooted in society that individuals are born with a violent personality, that is, they inherit it from their parents or ascendants. It is, therefore, necessary to count on subsidies for a critical reflection and analysis of the psychological and pedagogical assumptions present in the school space, within the theme of violence. With this, it becomes possible to think of educational/training alternatives for coping with situations of violence that manifest themselves at school, going beyond the repressive and reactive practice that this criticized conception raises.

Barroco and Costa (2014) defend a conception of man that is made according to the laws of History and whose formation as a human is in line with the historical-social conditions of a given temporal, geographic and socioeconomic space. The authors also postulate that man is not born humanized, he needs to conquer this condition in the battle he fights daily in search of survival. In other words, violent behavior is not naturally violent, for neither is man naturally human.

From the theoretical perspective adopted in this research, the school is recognized as fundamental for the formation and humanization of subjects, and can be considered, after the family or the primary group, as the second most important institution for the human training process. Through it, they can gradually and systematically appropriate what humanity has produced, and the curricular content impacts the way they understand the world and themselves. The school allows them to have instrumental resources that change their psyches (perception, thought, memory, language, etc.), promoting the development of SPF - which are characterized by the intention and awareness with which they are used, and by be genetically of a cultural order (Vygotski, 2000).

Thus, it is worrisome that the school is transformed into a space for recurrent reproduction of situations of violence, in such a way that the teaching-learning process is prevented from taking place more effectively and in favor of the mastery of curricular knowledge by the students.

At a time when society has been guided by a logic that relies on violence (under different means and forms) for the domination and subjugation of people, groups, peoples and nations, it is necessary to establish different mediations so that the school is not an open and fertile field for its frank reproduction. For an educational position it is necessary to understand the relationships that determine this logic, not just deny it or cover it up. In the current social organization, more than in other historical moments, violence appears to be expanded in the form of exploitation of man by man, which allows us to point to the consideration of structural violence in the constitution of interpersonal relationships (Ros, 2014). In this context, relationships have become corrupted because barbarism is advancing with great strides in contemporary society and affects all fields of social practice, including the family and school.

In this direction, for what violence produces at school and in us, subjects, Silva (2006) points to the individualism spread by neoliberalism, the fierce competition and the exploitation of capital. This has produced the degeneration of social relationships, increasing the lack of respect in these relationships and contributing to an unfavorable climate for teaching and learning curricular (scientific) content within the school. But this is in agreement with a given conception of public education, which predicts how much should be committed so that its users can, in fact, have a comprehensive, universal education.

MÉTODO

Recognizing that human beings are constituted as such from the social relations they establish, in order to respond to the issues of violence that involve school education, it is necessary that the analysis of phenomena takes place in a historical-dialectical exercise, not being tied to appearance. Vygotski (2000) understands that it is necessary for Psychology to identify the genesis of phenomena or objects, seeking to investigate their historicity, the relationship they establish with social practice in a given temporal and geographic space, in short, their relationship with culture. The author starts from the understanding that they present themselves and are perceived according to given socio-historical conditions.

This understanding was present in the research reported herein, consisting of bibliographical and field investigations, and linked to a broader inter-institutional research entitled “ Alternativas para Enfrentamento da Violência na Educação Básica: uma demanda da Psicologia Escolar”⁵ (UEM, Araucária Foundation /Paraná, 2012-2017).

In order to know what teachers express in relation to violence in education, for data collection, semi-structured interviews were used as an instrument. As for field research, according to Fonseca (2011), it consists in the observation of facts and phenomena as they occur spontaneously, when data is collected from people with different resources. Regarding the semi-structured interview, Gil (1996) states that it is, without doubt, the most flexible of all data collection techniques available to the social sciences and considers its relevance to the human sciences.

The project of this research was submitted to the Standing Committee on Ethics in Research Involving Human Beings (COPEP/UEM), having been approved, according to the opinion of the committee, in accordance with the ethical recommendations. After authorization for the research, respondents were instructed about the objectives, voluntary participation and freedom to give up without suffering any burden, secrecy, reliability and confidentiality of responses and their identities. As for the identity of the interviewees, we suggested that they choose a pseudonym, such as the name of an author, writer, educator or artist that was significant to them. The participants’ questions were answered, as well as the reading and signing of the Free and Informed Consent Form (TCLE). The interviews were recorded and, later, the audios were transcribed and subjected to recurrent reading and analysis.

The selection of participating teachers followed the criteria: who had personally suffered or experienced situations of violence in the city of Curitiba/PR, on April 29, 2015 and were available for interviews, with the consent of the Regional Education Center of the city. Twenty-six teachers were identified who met the above criteria, but 14 (fourteen) teachers were available to participate.

The semi-structured interview, about 60 minutes in length, recorded and transcribed, focused on the axes: Professional Training and Performance, Perceptions of Education/Current School, Violence in the World and in School, Violence in the 1st Semester/2015 and Perspectives for Education and Personal Life.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

On the axis: “Professional training and performance”, of the fourteen interviewees, eleven were teachers and three were teachers, and five professionals (35.71%) are aged between 25 and 35 years; five (35.71%) are between 36 and 46 years old; and four teachers (28.57%) aged 47 to 58 years old. As for teaching time, five to fifteen years in the profession prevailed, indicated by nine teachers (64.29%). Regarding the nature of the bond, only one teacher is not part of the teaching staff, acting through the Simplified Selection Process (SSP). Regarding the workload, 11 teachers (78.57%) work 40 hours of class per week, and three (21.43%) work 20 hours of class per week.

As for academic training, all teachers have a degree in the areas of expertise; 10 (71.43%) have Specialization; three (21.43%) have a Master’s degree; one professor (7.14%) has a Doctorate. Regarding the area of ​​expertise, five teachers (35.71%) work in the area of ​​Language: Portuguese Language, Modern Foreign Language, Arts and Physical Education; four (28.57%) in the Human Sciences area (History/Geography and Philosophy/Sociology); two (14.29%) in the Exact Sciences (Mathematics), and three (21.43%), with a degree in Pedagogy, work in the Pedagogical Team and in the Multifunctional Resources Room (MFR).

In the axis: “Violence in the 1st Semester of 2015,” when asked about “what would have led to the demonstrations at the beginning of the 2015 school year”, all responded that it was the struggle to maintain the rights conquered, as Milton Hatoum explained: “This attempt of massive removal of rights, I believe that was what motivated 2015”.

In this regard, Galvão (2015) exposes the organization of new forms, new types and spaces of struggle to meet the demands of workers, as on 04/29/2015, through the process of exploitation and capitalist oppression, “more than that to look at the particularities of social and popular movements [...], but to see them based on the totality that involves them from the capital/labor contradiction” (p. 12).

The prevalence of responses demands care so that we do not lose the perspective of totality, as the struggle of the teacher and the entire working class cannot be just to “keep the rights conquered”, but to encompass the origins of the suffering experienced, which is the reaffirmation and the expansion of the neoliberal state. In this sense, Martins (2006) contributes by exposing a better understanding of the facts: “the dialectical analysis of the relationship between the singular and the universal [...] makes it possible to build concrete knowledge, [...] the emphasis given the particular does not translate into abandoning the construction of knowledge from the perspective of totality” (p. 12). It is necessary to recognize that capital makes use of different strategies - such as the production of calumny, theorized by Martin Baró (2015) - to contain all forms of working class resistance, intensifying the repression and criminalization of demand movements.

We asked the teachers to report what it was like to be in Curitiba on April 29, 2015. By remembering and reporting, they were mobilized; they manifested emotional reactions with crying (some discreetly, with watery eyes, others with tears running down their faces) and choked voices, showing feelings such as sadness and anger. We will point out some significant points that emerged in the reports.

[...] They ran after us, without stopping, with bombs. People who fell, got hurt. You running, that helicopter overhead, the cops running after us, like you were a bandit. [...] the bombs came from the back buildings, then it was desperate, we were in a siege. [...] there were ladies falling in there and people were laughing, as if that was funny. So that was violence, something that was traumatic, it was horrible. Then we managed to run. People got lost. We tried to help. [...] (Marlene Sapeli - Brazilian pedagogue and researcher)

In this war scenario, teachers review what the laws, policies and international treaties advocate, while trying to protect and help each other. It reveals the literal attack on workers who opposed the non-fulfillment of what was foreseen in relation to the salary readjustment, among other points that confer the devaluation and dismantling of public education, this being one of the forms of expression of the maintenance of capital’s hegemony.

The police threw the bombs. [...] I saw people bleeding from rubber bullet wounds, not their legs, people hit in the stomach, arm, even the head, and I realized that with a lot of anger because as I studied a little police technique I know that the so-called mutiny ammunition, they are very strong, so they must be thrown to the ground, so that they spread and they reach the part of the legs, where it is less harmful. And the military police, they aimed. And the military police, they aimed in the direction of the trunk upwards, which, according to the UN recommendation, is illegal, it is considered a war crime. (Milton Hatoum - Brazilian teacher and writer)

The teachers felt firsthand what Mészáros (2002) theorizes: the entire society is affected by the crisis: “it affects the entirety of a social complex in all its relations with its constituent parts or sub complexes, as well as with other complexes to which it is articulated, [...] the capital cannot have any other objective than its own self-reproduction” (pp. 797-800) and it does so by subduing everything and everyone. Although we see the growing barbarism, we cannot think that the system is about to collapse, but that it is self-eroding to maintain itself. What was reported by the teachers must be related to violence as a whole. For Bezerra and Medeiros (2015, p. 4):

reality demonstrates that from the structural crisis of capital onwards, the contradictions inherent to the logic of capital have become more acute when adopting this social/liberal project that has been leading to an increase in the rate of exploitation of workers, with the ever-increasing deregulation of labor rights, and the restriction of State intervention in the sector of public policies, establishing new production relations through precarious work. [...] The capital system is not capable of rooting out the causes of crises, but it tries to remedy their consequences, as it will not call into question their uncontrollable reproduction.

It is necessary to be clear in relation to this crisis, after decades of neoliberalism, with the predominance of the “principle of austerity over social spending and the liberalization of public funds to help the business of capital, the results are dismal and frightening” (Paniago, 2014, p. 1).

Continuing, the teachers pointed to impotence and discouragement, “the lack of refuge to help the wounded and return”.

There was a wall of police around the Assembly and on the ramp there were armed BOPE officers; on the roof were snipers, with machine guns pointed at us, two helicopters. [...]. Then, at that moment, a bomb exploded under the truck, a lot of smoke. We stayed there until seven o’clock at night, and the bombs were falling. But we didn’t leave there because even after all that violence we believed we would win..., in the dead of night, while there was a truce to lower the smoke and help the wounded, the deputies went there and voted. Wow! That was so sad, you know, a silence all of a sudden. The street was full. It was raining a cold rain and the mayor opened the city hall for us to take shelter because we had no place to shelter and help the wounded. He made a cord to help the wounded there in the city hall. Going back to the buses, meeting someone... [crying] And on the way back from the bus, that smell of vinegar, that will never leave my nose. Smell of smoke from burning stuff... you know, it looked like it burned your clothes... you know, horrible. Nobody spoke... you know, everybody sat there and was like, like they didn’t believe what had happened. A nightmare, a desolate thing, from a movie. You had nothing to say to the colleague next you. (Frida Kahlo - Mexican painter).

Scenes such as those reported by teachers, in which the police acted with extreme violence to repress protesters, without helping the injured workers, show the legitimacy of the interests of the ruling class, and propagate the naturalization of social inequalities. Social interactions are empty and social organization contributes to individualism and competitiveness. In this sense, Hobsbawn (1995, p. 24) writes about one of the transformations in the world at the end of the 20th century would be the “disintegration of old patterns of human social relationship”, thus raising:

the predominance of individualism [...] this society formed by a group of self-centered individuals with no other connection among themselves, in search only of their own satisfaction [...] profit, pleasure, that is, whatever [...] always implicit in capitalist theory (Hobsbawn, 1995, p. 25).

Some workers (policemen, advisers to politicians etc.), on April 29, 2015 do not behave as belonging to the working class: “they lose the sense of collectivity, such behavior proves to be the result of the ideology of capital that makes them develop in workers competitive, individualistic attitudes that become indifferent to collective causes” (Galvão, 2015, p. 7).

Asked about what it was like to remember and report on what happened on April 29, the teachers expressed that it was not an easy task, as feelings such as frustration, sadness and pain revived. Some claimed that they tried not to talk in order to forget, in a deliberate position of denial, but that they consider it important to report.

Look, I think the report is essential for us not to forget. And whenever we talk, even in the classroom, when we return to make up classes, saying in the classroom what happened on the 29th is something that brings these butterflies in our stomachs, this feeling of impotence that we suffered on the day, and this is perhaps one of the worst situations (Ernesto Guevara - Argentine doctor, Marxist revolutionary).

Three teachers showed feelings of impotence, defeat and disappointment. Eleven teachers demonstrated in their speeches that, despite all the suffering and sadness, they believe that this report can contribute to the elaboration of the pain acquired on the 29th. of their preparation for the moment of confrontation. Teachers did not expect such violence, believing in a peaceful demonstration - related to the “culture of tolerance and peace”, a discourse widely propagated by the neoliberal government, and present in several projects financed by the State of Paraná. It hides the contradictions present in class society and tends to lead workers to believe that violence only occurs when they are attacked in their physical bodies.

Based on Vásquez (1977), violence, in its different ways of manifesting itself, will not be directed only at the physical aspects (as we see in the teachers’ reports), but at the social being and its conscience. The different forms of violence that manifest themselves in daily life are “an expression of a deeper violence: the exploitation of man by man” (Vásquez, 1977, p. 395).

For Vásquez (1990), when the State feels threatened with losing power, it uses coercive actions to defend the interests of the ruling class, to defend the bourgeois elite. There is the “application of different forms of coercion that even reach armed actions with the objective of conquering or maintaining economic and political dominance, or of obtaining these or those privileges” (Vásquez, 1990, p. 381).

We asked them to talk about what feelings emerged when they returned to the school where they work, after April 29, 2015. They all reported their feelings of pain, defeat, suffering, helplessness, frustration, humiliation, devaluation, hopelessness: “It’s a feeling, like, actually from pain. I’ve never seen such an absurd thing. It was disproportionate. It is inhumane”. (Paulo Freire)

Asked about interference in emotional life, they reported feelings related to dropping out, unwillingness to go to school, feeling of loss, crying episodes, despair, panic. Some interviewees claimed that, after the episode, they started to develop a certain aversion to the Military Police (MP), feeling fear when they saw a vehicle with a military police officer, when they met a Military Police officer at school, or even when they heard the noise of sirens in a helicopter.

In view of this remembered situation, and returning to the axis “Professional training and performance”, when asked whether, in the schools where they work, they had participated in courses, workshops or study groups that addressed the theme of violence and violence at school, in the last few four years of work: 64.29% of teachers responded negatively, and 35.71% affirmatively.

In the axis “Perceptions of Education/Current School”, when answering about what it has been like to be and act as a public school teacher in recent years, seven (50%) answered that, despite the difficulties, they identify and like the profession, which is “passionate” and feel satisfied to contribute to the lives of students in a positive way. Seven (50%) answered that it has been difficult, they perceive “each year is more difficult” and point out feelings of frustration, disappointment, weariness, uncertainty, desire to change profession, illness due to lack of respect for the teacher and indiscipline.

Regarding the axis “Violence in the world and in education”, the participants were asked about how they perceive violence outside the school wall and what is the impact on people’s daily lives, according to their readings and theoretical conceptions. All responded that they perceive violence as part of the current social organization, inherent to capitalist society and that it has led to an increase in social inequalities and different forms of corruption.

Regarding the type of violence experienced at the school where they work, eleven respondents (78.57%) reported that they experienced physical and verbal violence; and three teachers interviewed (21.43%) responded that they had experienced physical violence.

When asked if they perceive that there has been an increase in situations of violence in the school environment where they work, 100% answered affirmatively, classifying the increase as significant.

In the axis “Violence in the world and at school”, when asked about the causes of violence at school, eight teachers (57.14%) responded that the causes are related to social issues, such as the way society is organized, social inequality, corruption that leads to misery and psychological oppression, thus interfering with families, who are unable to educate their children (“giving limits”). Four (28.57%) answered as a possible cause the lack of preparation of school professionals in conflict mediation, which would lead to difficulties in the relationship between teacher (educator) and student and vice versa. Two teachers (14.29%) responded that the media are the causes of violence at school, they attribute to social networks the naturalization of different forms of violence.

When respondents were asked about what should be done to fight violence at school, six (42.86%) pointed out that the school should work with the prevention of violence, suggesting that cultural activities such as art classes should be provided, dance, music, sports activities, opening the school to community participation; four responded that the teacher should receive better training to deal with conflicts and work with themes such as respect, diversity and interpersonal relationships; two (14.29%) suggested forming multidisciplinary teams at the school, with psychologists and social workers; and two teachers (14.29%) believe that the school cannot solve the problem, as it is too broad and involves a change that should take place in society as a whole, that is, in the mode of production of the current system.

In the axis “Perspectives for Education and Personal Life”, teachers answered about the expectations they have in relation to education, as teachers, and how long they imagine themselves working in this profession. Eleven teachers (78.57%) reported that they would like to continue in the profession, as they believe that it tends to improve and that education can contribute to the formation of human beings. It is important to point out that, of the eleven teachers who want to continue in the profession, two (14.29%) claimed that even knowing the negative expectations, they want to continue being teachers.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

These interviewees were in Curitiba in the struggle for public education, during the government of Carlos Alberto Richa, when there was a “massacre” and not a “confrontation” between the police and teachers, such was the disparity in resources between the parties. One with bodies and voices, and the other with an arsenal and tactics of extreme violence (Carvalho, 2016), engaged with a conception of education and society analyzed and criticized here.

In view of all the difficulties exposed and the complexity of the profession, the interviewees expressed a lot of indignation about the conjectural and political factors. They considered it very important to narrate what they had gone through, the situations of great violence, considering the intentional use of physical force against them, resulting in injuries, psychological damage, damage to development, according to the WHO (2014).

Such experiences, however, do not distance all teachers from valuing the profession, perhaps because they still maintain a certain belief in improvements in the area of ​​education. Oliveira (2011), commenting on the survey launched by UNESCO, entitled “Teachers of Brazil: impasses and challenges”, which presents data on the conditions of teaching, career and remuneration, reveals that idealism and the certainty that they will contribute to the formation of new generations are strong components for many teachers not to abandon teaching. Even under the strong emotional charge that the theme arouses in them, the number of interviewed teachers who declared they wanted to continue (11) in the teaching profession was significantly higher, compared to the number of those who do not have this intention (03). This data is relevant when we think that the teacher develops non-material work, and that they must be a mediating agent that contributes to meaning the world with the students through the contents they teach, and that this is directly related to the constitution of the psyche and consciousness - human beings are formed by/in the society in which they live (Vygotski, 1996).

External and objective influences, as they are the starting point and determinants in the reciprocal action between human beings and concrete reality, condition every psychic activity of men, every trait of their personality. There is no doubt about the impossibility of constitution of personality apart from social relations under the reproduction of capital and, likewise, of conceiving violent behavior as if they were genetic inheritance, because, as we have seen, “the properties of the human psyche are determined by the relations real relationships between man and the world, relationships that depend on objective historical conditions of life. It is these relationships that create the structural particularities of human consciousness” (Leontiev, 1978, p. 138). In this direction, we are responsible for continuing to unveil the genesis and development of the human psyche, including individual behaviors, but considering the concrete existence of the subjects.

Thus, when analyzing violence historically, we realize that it is linked to a given form of production of life. For Silva (2006) and Barroco and Costa (2014) the phenomenon is socially and historically constructed; it does not originate, therefore, in the individual manifestations of the subjects. Still, the data found allowed us to verify how teachers perceive violence at school and what would be their perspectives in relation to education and life. Such data demonstrate that the lack of knowledge about some public policy to fight violence affects 92.86% of interviewed teachers.

Likewise, the participation of these professionals in courses, workshops or study groups that address the theme of violence and violence at school in the last four years of work is low, corresponding to 35.71% specifically. It is evident that it is not just a question of lack of attention on the part of the teachers, such lack of knowledge, but of the absence or insufficiency of public policies, especially on continuing education, in-service. The lack of theoretical-technical preparation in the initial training (undergraduate) to deal with violence is also evident.

We conclude that it is necessary to continue researches that explain violence and the context that produces it, especially violence related to education, a complex object with continuous developments. In 2015, the physical violence pointed out against public education teachers in Paraná impacted the category and society. In 2020, this violence in Brazil is presented under other guises, especially in the moral plane, of ideas, as can be identified by the actions of the federal government, by what is publicized by different associations (ANPEd, ANPEPP, SBPC, ABRAPEE etc.), and it is imperative that it should be the target of the interest of all (teachers and researchers), as it impacts them directly or indirectly and concerns the formation of this and new generations.

Faced with the realization that violence has not ended and that it can become more acute, it is crucial to remember what Saviani (2003) postulates: the primary function of the school is to ensure access to scientific knowledge, socializing the cultural wealth historically constructed by humanity. Therefore, there is a need to study, discuss and seek ways to make such access effective for everyone and, in this specific case, for the entire school community that suffers from situations of violence that have harmed the teaching-learning process. This inaccessibility is, in itself, a violent act!

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• 1
  Violence in education: what teachers in public schools in the state network in the municipality of Cascavel/PR who have experienced situations of violence express. (Nota da tradutora)
• 2
  In this article, we chose to use the Vigotski spelling, as it is the most used in recent translations of the author’s works. The different spellings used in the publications will be preserved when cited in this text.
• 3
  National Survey of School Health.
• 4
  The murder of George Perry Floyd Jr. on May 25, 2020 - Minneapolis/USA, for example, made more evident the violence suffered by blacks around the world, not only in dealing with the police, but in all institutions, as in school. The reaction provoked worldwide gave notoriety to the movement Black lives matter - Black lives matter (https://blacklivesmatter.com/). Countless testimonies of people who suffer violence due to racism have been released.
• 5
  Alternatives for Confronting Violence in Basic Education: a demand for School Psychology. (Nota da Tradutora).

• This paper was translated from Spanish by Ana Maria Pereira Dionísio.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  08 Oct 2021
• Date of issue
  2021

History

• Received
  05 May 2019
• Accepted
  26 June 2020