INITIAL FORMATIVE PROCESSES AND NECESSARY KNOWLEDGE FOR TEACHING CHILDREN: THE ROLE OF SUPERVISED TRAINEE PROGRAM

Abstract

The discussion presented here is an excerpt of the results obtained from the longitudinal research, of qualitative approach, developed between the school years of 2011 and 2014, with the overall goal of following the initial training for basic education teachers, in various higher education public institutions with the intention of understanding how professional learning develops. Participants in the research were students and teachers from two teaching courses in two different Brazilian regions: Southeast and Midwest; for data collection mixed questionnaires were annually applied during the course. Thus, considering the limits of this article we will discuss the perception of the two groups concerning the training program role in the initial formation for teaching in kindergarten, based on data from the open-ended questions that made up the questionnaires that were answered by teachers in 2012 and by students from the Midwest institution in 2013 and 2014. Data analysis allowed to establish that among the teachers there were two groups of opinions: one that makes a positive evaluation of the trainee program, given its formative importance to articulate theory and practice; and another group with an antagonistic perspective, pointing out that the activity is performed and organized in a bureaucratic and superficial way. Students also assess the trainee program as important for their formation, to the extent that such activity allows the identification with the profession and contact with reality/experience. The research also allowed us to see that the trainee program, understood as an articulating axis of all subjects of the course, is still a reality to be built in the initial training courses.