THE TEACHING PROFESSION IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY. NEW DIMENSIONS: WORK ETHICS

Abstract

The referred work of this article attempts to determine the relevance and degree of certain changes in the attribution of meaning and sense to work (work ethics) that is given by teachers who apply digital technology to education. In particular, we ask ourselves the question, ‘Is there a relevant component of the “Hacker Ethics” among teachers who work in virtual learning environments in relation to those ones who do not?’ We reflect and research on the changes of the fundaments of the teaching work from a double perspective. On the one hand, the uneasiness existent in the profession and the crisis in its meaning, the irruption of ICT and the creation of new learning environments. On the other hand, the change in the conceptualization and meaning of work after the appearance of the Hacker Ethics as opposite to the classic meaning of Weberian Ethics (protestant work ethics). In the first part, we develop the state of affairs of the topic, giving a global sense to the issues dealt with, pointing out the relevance of the research and making original contributions as hypotheses that contrast with the second part. In the second part, we give an account of the instrument created to collect data in agreement with the goal of this work, i.e., to contrast hypotheses; and we establish the methodological coordinates of the data collection. In the third part, we process the information to estimate if there is statistic dependence between the features “teacher immersed in virtual learning environments” and “assume with more meaning the Work/Hacker Ethics, all of which is described in the conclusions.