CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES IN EDUCATION: xenophobia and its impacts on immigrant faculty in brazilian higher education

Abstract

Xenophobia in the educational environment is a relevant challenge for the internationalization of education and the integration of immigrant teachers and students. This research aims to analyze the perception of foreign teachers about xenophobic manifestations in the environment of Brazilian federal higher education, identifying the main forms of occurrence, the impact on the level of well-being, and analyzing whether institutions have policies/programs capable of promoting respect and cultural diversity. For the methodology, a survey was used as a technical procedure for collecting data. The research is based on the perception of 205 non-native Brazilian teachers from the federal higher education network, whose data treatment was performed through content analysis. The results of this study indicate that, in fact, xenophobia occurs among teachers in the environment of Brazilian federal higher education, developing in different forms, directly affecting the well-being and professional performance of the respondents. Furthermore, in the view of most participants, university administrations do not act adequately to inhibit the occurrence of xenophobic acts.