Pleasure and suffering in the teaching work: Brazil and Portugal

Abstract

The work setting of teachers in higher education is complex and multidimensional, since it coexists with several demands permeated by social, political, and economic dimensions. This article examines with experiences of pleasure and suffering in higher education teaching. It is therefore an effort to contribute to fill the gap of studies on the triad work/ health/disease in different realities. In sight of that, utilizing the theory on psychodynamics of work, this study compared the experiences of pleasure and suffering between professors of two institutions, one in Brazil and the other in Portugal. The method used was an explanatory case study, with a quantitative approach. Data collection involved the Inventory on Work and Risk of Illness (ITRA), developed and validated by ErgoPublic and Gepsat, two interdisciplinary groups of studies and research of the Institute of Psychology of the University of Brasilia (UnB). In the whole, the survey included 326 professors (251 from Brazil and 75 from Portugal). The scores revealed a more favorable reality for Brazilian professors, while the cluster analysis identified the predominance of similar perceptions regarding the experiences of pleasure and suffering. In addition, both share outstanding elements related to (i) the cognitive cost, evaluated as being of serious level; and (ii) the physical cost, evaluated as being of critical level. Thus, these results transcend local contexts and may comprehend the professional category in relation to teaching in higher education.