Professores leigos em escolas rurais: trajetórias de vida profissional de um passado (re)visitado.

Abstract

This dissertation presents a study carried out between 2006/2008, focusing the process of personal and professional formation of lay teachers in the rural region of Pelotas-RS. Such theme has taken up room in educational discussions and researches lately. The purpose of the study was to investigate the professional trajectory of these teachers, establishing a discussion about their personal formation process acquired in and through their pedagogical practice between the decades of 1940 and 1970. The methodology of the research was based on the professional history of life of a male lay teacher and of a female lay teacher. The sources for data collection were oral and written narratives, complementary conversations and documents. The documental sources were either made available by the teachers themselves or located in the educational system records; they consist of photographs, instructional books, pedagogical information for the orientation of rural teachers, certificates, among others. However, the main source of the research were the memories of the subjects. The theoretical discussion was established with Nóvoa, Marcelo Garcia, Freire, Therrien, Arroyo, Tardif, among other authors. Locating the investigation in time-space, this work recovers the meaning atribbuted to the term lay teacher and the educational process lived by rural schools. In revisiting the paths run by the teachers it was possible to find evidence of a formation process built in and through their pedagogical doing. The teachers revealed the existence of a professional knowledge which was built throughout their careers, despite distinct characteristics and trajectories. This process should be known, since it guided their educational practice.