Management of university teaching: the stress in the life of beginning professors

Abstract

Teaching in university is a complex professional activity, that has been reconfigured by political, educational and economic changes that often produce situations of stress, overwork and professional dissatisfaction. Therefore, this article aims to understand the perceptions of beginning university professors about the stress situations involved in the performance of their activities and functions. Eight current professors from a public university in the state of Rio Grande do Sul were interviewed. From the production and analysis of the data, through qualitative research of the narrative type, the considerations of the interviewees show that they often feel unprepared in situations of Teaching, pressured by demands of scientific productivity, discomforts in dealing with administrative situations and overload of activities, especially in teaching and administrative tasks. To deal with stress situations, professors develop individual and collective adaptation processes and learn by practice how to get around the adverse situations they experience in everyday life. We believe that beginning professors are eager to promote quality education, despite adversity and uncertainty, because they take pleasure in the profession and consider being a university professor a conquest and achievement.