Meaning of current pedagogical authority. A view from educational experiences

Abstract

This article presents the results of a research project on pedagogical authority in lower middle-class schools of Santiago, Chile. Specifically, it is qualitative analysis of the information gathered through individual in depth interviews, conducted with teachers of the south sector of Santiago, during the first semester of 2008. The meaning of the pedagogical authority for the teachers constitutes the object of this study. We treat the pedagogical authority as a social phenomenon situated culturally and historically. The sense of a social phenomenon for a subject is based on his existential experience in the here and now. Consequently, the authority analyzed in this research does not refer to a pure or abstract concept, but to a construction in interaction.