Leadership in teaching in higher education

a psychodynamic perspective

Abstract

Teaching work represents a fundamental field in society, given its importance in the training of future professionals and, especially, citizens. In this way, the intention of this article is to raise the matters arising from the exercise of leadership in teaching assignments and to reflect on this leadership in Higher Education in terms of its importance for the training process, as well as the inspiration that this craft can provide to students, based on the idea that teaching is an exercise in leadership. The methodological proposal with which we analyze this exercise consists of a qualitative perspective of a descriptive-analytical nature. Two teachers were interviewed through a semi-guided script which intended to raise and understand the experiences arising from their life trajectories that culminated in the teaching work they currently perform. As a theoretical and methodological basis for the analysis, the Psychodynamics of Work was used, due to its view on the subjects’ ways of being, provoked by the encounter with work and the demands pertinent to its processes. As a result, the sample revealed significant agreement with the aspects of leadership in their teaching practice, although they reiterated that there are considerable difficulties in this job. This clarity requires mobilization on the part of leading teachers who sometimes feel overwhelmed and rediscover ways not to get sick. Such results have the power for new studies to be developed in order to broaden the discussion and contribute to teaching actions, but, above all, human, better and more affective actions.