FIGHTING FOR THE COLLECTIVE: MEANINGS CONSTRUCTED BY ORGANIZED TEACHERS

ABSTRACT This study investigates the question of the senses and meanings that organized professoriate attributes to its political participation in social movements in Chile. Using qualitative methodology with a narrative approach, 12 in-depth interviews were performed with teachers who participate in different political organizations: professional associations and national, regional and/or school unions. The results show a high valuation of the teaching organization as a validated mechanism of political pressure and participation, associated with social struggle. Adherence to the professional association - College of Teachers - allows the formation of a collective subject that, by also participating in other organizational instances, modulates the social identity of critical teacher. Finally, there is evidence of the need to move forward in new investigations that can rescue the experience of organization of those marginalized voices in a school culture that often individualizes protest and organized action.