Teaching Work and Implications of Affirmative Actions in the Medical School of a Public Higher Education Institution

Abstract

The aims of the present research are to assess the affirmative policies of the Medical School at Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) to analyze professors’ work at Racial Quota scope and changes in the university due to such a process, and to better understand how professors in Medical School face racial topics. It must be done by understanding labor as a core dimension since without workers one could not talk about society, education, and economy. Therefore, this research addresses labor from a perspective that goes beyond utilitarian purposes. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. Professors in the Medical School Faculty, who have been teaching since 2013, were the investigated subjects - this year was chosen because this is the time when Racial Quotas were put in place at UFMG. Changes in the higher education scene due to the affirmative actions that have been taken and the understanding of the Teaching Function as an educative principle allowed professors’ work to overcome models imposed by the market logic.