Teaching as a professional project. Practices and perspectives as seen from the outset

In this study we investigate how a group of students started their careers as primary school teachers in 2010, by exploring different topics related to the choice of career from a position of uncertainty. For many of the students, teaching was an alternative, as they had already had experience of studying, and several knew about the transmission of knowledge, through their experience of teaching Music, Catequesis or Student Support.  This was analysed from a theoretical point of view based on the notion of “working with the other” to support the choice of teaching leading to the idea of the transmission of values and religious service.  However, we also questioned the idea of vocation, which we analysed from the perspective of social trajectories and habitus, in order to understand that this was a process of social construction which takes place in the family.  Many of the young people consulted had family members who were teachers and they had asked their advice when they were taking the decision about entering the profession. We also discussed the question of gender in relation to teaching as a professional option.  We noted a strong association between teaching and the mother figure, particularly with respect to the care and control of young children. In this study we analyse different aspects of the process of entering the teaching profession, documenting and highlighting the views and opinions of a group of student teachers as social actors, in order to understand that these processes and issues, although occurring in the context of a teacher training institution, are constructions which originate in the daily life of social and family backgrounds.