In this essay we present a subject-matter frequently faced in the educational research field: the constitution of the teacher's profession. A lot has been written about this subject-matter, considering, for instance, the relation between work and class condition, gender and the professional identity constituted along the trajectory of the teacher's life. Our aim is to stress the relevance of this research that tries to understand teachers in scholarly institutions by investigating the social practices put into practice. By so doing, we emphasize the importance of the Marxist theoretical-methodological approach, since it clarifies the historicalness of professional practices. The reorientation in educational policies seems to indicate a valorization of the teacher - ideology of professionalism - at the same time that it contains the elements that will permit probing in the school's everyday life and the processes of alienated work. Simultaneously with the educational reform process, one can observe the production of analysis grounded in 'post-modern' concepts, orienting the understanding of the teacher's work formation and the constitution of the teacher's job. Without trying to render account of the huge bibliography dealing with those matters, we try to highlight the limits of these post-modern concepts to understanding the teacher's job, which seems to coincide with neo-liberal educational policy presuppositions. This coincidence, to our understanding, only stresses the importance of Marxist categories for the research in education.
professional cultures; professional practices; teacher work; educational policies; education and work