Innovative Pedagogical Practices: Criteria Assigned by Teacher Educators Working in Pedagogy Undergraduate Courses

Abstract

This article analyzes the criteria that teacher educators, working in Pedagogy undergraduate courses, attribute to innovative pedagogical practices. This article is empirically based on data from a descriptive, exploratory, and qualitative research in six community. Higher Education Institutions in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil, linked to the Acafe, which offers in-person Pedagogy courses. The sample comprised teacher educators at these institutions working as professors in Pedagogy courses who agreed to participate in the research. We used an online questionnaire as a data collection procedure. The results were interpreted using the content analysis technique was applied. It was evident that the criteria that give meaning to innovative pedagogical practice are subjective, assume a polysemic character, and vary according to the knowledge, interpretation, and experience of those surveyed. Some central elements were articulated with this type of practice: student protagonism; rupture with the traditional; new; technology; research; and active methodologies. In light of the research's theoretical framework, the analysis of these criteria allowed us to understand that not everything that was perceived as pedagogical innovation constitutes, in fact, an innovative pedagogical practice. Thus, the need and importance of promoting reflection on what an innovative pedagogical practice is and how it is constituted, aiming at a more assertive conception of the concept, which can support the practice in teacher training courses and the consolidation of the profile of an innovative teacher.