Teachers’ desirable characteristics: a study on the teaching handbooks by Everardo Backheuser – 1933 to 1946

Abstract

The objective of this study is to identify and analyze the desirable characteristics a teacher must present as suggested by the teaching handbooks written by the catholic intellectual Everardo Backheuser (1879-1951): Aritmética na Escola Nova (1933), Técnica da Pedagogia Moderna (1934), Ensaio de Biotipologia Educacional (1941) and O Professor (1946). The sources selected are understood in this work as part of the cultural and political strategy of catholic agents, with the purpose of shaping teachers’ action and favoring their incorporation of a desirable habitus – which would contribute to leverage catholic values and interests in the education field. The theoretical and methodological reference is based on the Laurence Bardin’s content, aiming at the systematization of the data surveyed. Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts, mainly those of field and habitus, along with Michel de Certeaus’ strategy concept were used to interpret the data. The main results point out that Backheuser, in his handbooks, advised teachers to be educators above all, in the sense that they should work with a holistic approach in the development of their students (body, intellect, moral/spirit). Among the teachers’ characteristics listed by that author as desirable, the outstanding ones were: authority, continuous development, optimism, role model, assiduity, punctuality, dialogue, being willing to get to know the students, cooperation spirit and initiative. The sources also reveal certain particular appropriation of the New School by the author, who dialogued with the novelty of the modern pedagogy from the traditional matrix of the catholic teaching.