Work and health of early childhood education teachers

The article presents partial results of a quantitative and qualitative study that investigated the relationship between the teaching work process and the health of all the preschool teachers of a medium-sized city in Rio Grande do Sul. In all, 196 teachers participated in the study. In this article, we present the results of the qualitative phase that, through a semi-structured interview, investigated the educational practices used by the teachers in their daily work. Based on the information that came from the interviews, seven categories were identified, namely: Vocational Management Action, Moralizing Discourse, Intensification, Identity, Gender Categorization and Medication Intake. To analyze the interviews we used the Bardin Content Analysis model. The results showed that teachers are developing their work in precarious conditions, low salaries, with bureaucratic requirements, adverse physical conditions and these factors may be leading to medicine intake and illnesses. As a relatively new type of work, studies that give visibility to this group are necessary in order to improve the teacher's working conditions and avoid problems with their health.