This study aims to analyze the characteristics of the work performed by one of the professionals having a role in distance learning (DL), namely, the tutor, and to identify whether his/her work can be recognized as a substitution for the teaching function in the educational process. The research included two investigative procedures that complemented each other: a study of legal records and statistics for the DL and a piece of qualitative research of the case study kind.The investigation demonstrated that all assignments carried out by the tutors are teaching functions. In this sense, the tutor successfully replaces the teacher, practicing the same teaching functions, despite not having any employment contract, nor titles compatible with the requirements for teaching in university and not conducting university research and extension. The teaching work in distance learning is divided between those who plan and organize the courses, the "teachers" and those who execute them, the "tutors"; it is the tutors, not the teachers, that interact (virtually) with the students.
Teacher; Tutor; Work; Distance Learning