Designing the Teaching Work Activity System in Professional Education: Dimensions of Analysis

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the teaching activity in Vocational Education based on the assumptions of the Cultural- Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). To this end, we carried out an observation of classes over a semester and conducted interviews with two teachers of a vocational course offered by an institution of the Federal Network of Professional, Scientific, and Technological Education of Minas Gerais. From the data collected, we analyzed the teaching work and systematized its dimensions in an Activity System, based on studies developed by Leontiev (1978) and Engeström (2002, 2013, 2016) about CHAT. Finally, we conclude that an approximation of the work activity is essential to elaborate a teaching work activity system. This would make it possible to fill each of the system's poles and point out the singular aspects related to the experiences and values of each subject, which permeate the activity and go beyond what can be systematized.