Social image of teachers in Spain in the Spanish newspaper “El País” during the pandemic

Abstract

In a context of uncertainty and strong changes in the educational field derived from the international health crisis caused by Covid-19, this study aimed to reveal the social representations of the teacher, derived from the speech of the most widely distributed digital newspaper in Spain during the pandemic. The method used was the analysis of the speech with notes of the grounded theory, from an inductive logic. 247 news items related to the teaching profession published by the Spanish digital newspaper El País were analyzed. This was selected because it was the newspaper with the greatest circulation on the date of the study. The results showed eleven social representations of the teacher coexisting in the press discourse. These were organized into six emerging concepts related to the analyzed discourse: Resilience (resilient), Innovation (innovative versus traditional), Implication (involved versus unmotivated), Expertise (experts versus in training), Recognition (recognized versus unrecognized), Work situation (benefited versus precarious). The conclusions indicate that the media discourse creates a multifaceted image of the teacher, marked by resilience. During the pandemic, the resilient role of the teaching professional is recognized and at the same time demanded by the analyzed press. This role is outlined as essential for adaptation to a new educational reality mediated by technology.