Life stories of physical education teachers in Brazil and Colombia: a configurational analysis

Abstract

The objective is to analyze the life stories of Physical Education teachers in Brazil and Colombia. Based on the methodology of life history and configurational sociology, two retired professors from each country were interviewed. A narrative text was produced that presented the intertwined lives, and many of the narrated experiences originated in confrontations and material and symbolic struggles that constituted social habitus in the face of professional development in schools, colleges and groups. Among the converging aspects between the countries, the unbalance in the “me – us” scale stands out, leaning towards a “we”, confirming for teachers the importance of leadership of different groups and collectives. As divergent aspects, there is, for one country, a socio-professional character of those groups and, for another, the existence of these groups in conjunction with an academic-scientific configuration of the area. It is concluded that configurational approaches to life stories make it possible to understand the multiple interdependencies that configure being a teacher.