Contrato psicológico en la relación profesor-alumno en Enseñanza SuperiorContrato psicológico na relação professor-aluno no ensino Superior

Abstract

Since the last decades of the 20th century, the national policy for Higher Education has included clear objectives which are catalysts for technological, social and cultural progress, and are able to identify, interpret and respond to the real situations of today�s world. In order to respond to the emerging challenges, under (more or less) impassioned echoes regarding the normative options, the higher education institutions fought for their effectiveness as a response to the economic dynamics as well as to the demands for competitiveness and productivity which began to require a new level of professional qualification. The Class is a privileged space for the collective construction of knowledge in light of the intersubjectivity of its authors. To invoke the cognitive realm alone is a limited argument for the objectives which it attempts to achieve. The teaching-learning process is not built in a fragmented way nor is it unrelated to the personal and affective relationships. In this area, the Professor-Student relationship is fundamental to the construction of the human being/citizen since it correlates cognitive processes with psychosocial practices in a dynamic moment, in a multidimensional space, where action occurs, and under the influence of various aspects which are not always acknowledged by everyone or, at the very least, not according to the same archetypes. When this occurs, something happens in an individual mental framework so as to attribute meaning and purpose to the behaviour so that the subject may return to their state of equilibrium. In this context, the general objective of this study is to identify the attitudes and behaviours in the Professor-Student interrelationship which foster the minimization of situations of dissonance, breach or violation of the psychological contract, bearing in mind the model built according to the principles found in literature, of course, bearing in mind the current specific contexts of the theme being studied. This study is carried out using an eminently qualitative approach rooted in hermeneutics, according to which reality is inherent to individuals� perception. Work based on this premise focuses on the meanings and comprehension of words (present or absent) or of events connected to them, considering the actual places where they occur. The data was obtained using two questionnaires, one intended for professors and the other for public higher education students. By analysing the content, it was possible to draw up reference frameworks regarding the findings which were processed using the NVivo 10 application, as well as formulas and routines implemented in Visual Basic. It is not possible to understand the relationships between the subjects, in more or less hierarchized structures, without clearly acknowledging the bonds which connect them, the adjustment which they seek in their positioning and expectations throughout interaction. From the beginning, discrepancies were observed between what professors and students most value, in light of the mental framework of perceptions of how they act towards each other. It was also possible to prove that, normally, the psychological contract, due to its nature and characteristics, may be a stabilizing element in the Professor-Student relationship as it increases the level of trust, the perception of fairness, the clarity in communication and the affective commitment.