Work and mental health of professors, before and during COVID-19

Abstract

The mercantilist view under the aegis of capitalism has transfigured the organization of teachers' work, making it precarious, based on individualism, competition, work overload and the subtraction of leisure time by working time. Due to Covid-19 and the need for health measures to protect life and reduce the spread of the virus, emergency work and remote teaching were imposed in higher education institutions, enhancing the reality of the precarious work of the teacher. Given this context, this theoretical essay points out some possible ways to deal with the challenges of public HEIs and aims to problematize the reality of public university teaching work before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.