Programas de Pós-Graduação na área das Ciências Biológicas: problematizando o espaço e o lugar da formação e do pensar para e sobre a docência universitária

Abstract

The present study proposed to problematize issues related to training for university teaching in an attempt to understand the design that four Postgraduate Programs in the area of Biological Sciences at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul produce to train teachers and how this is manifested this formative agenda. The training processes of university professors in stricto sensu postgraduate programs are characterized, for the most part, by the production of knowledge as well as professional preparation, through the development of theoretical and instrumental knowledge of the research activity and with the appropriations relating to the specific field of activity. This study sought to problematize issues referents to pedagogical training for university teaching in these spaces. Through the analysis of the devices that reflect the curricular proposal of the PPGs, interviews with their coordinators and professors, and questionnaires applied to postgraduate students, sought to understand the perceptions and perspectives of these subjects regarding postgraduate. The research findings, of a qualitative nature, point to the understanding that the design produced in the investigated Programs to train teachers is manifested, mainly, through the disciplines of the specific area, the exercise of research and the experiences in the teaching internship and that the actions that mobilize this formation comes from the knowledge of practice. The study also showed that the culture of valuing specific knowledge in the Area is still very strong in the Programs and that the concept of science remains supported by an emphasis on technical rationality, and valuing formation in research. The testimonies of postgraduate students revealed, for the most part, their understanding of the fragility of formation for university teaching. Teaching is a profession and, as such, presupposes professional knowledge that requires specific formation, as well as an introduction to the field of work. However, on the part of the institutions and the teachers themselves, there is still a fragile understanding of the need for specific preparation to practice teaching in higher education. The authors who supported the discussion of the study were, mainly, Pimenta and Anastasiou (2002), Isaia (2006), Cunha (2008), Isaia and Bolzan (2008), Cunha and Zanchet (2010), and Soares and Cunha (2010). The proposed discussion aims collaborate with debates in the field of teacher training and university pedagogy.