Analyzing Course Pedagogic Projects: Gender and Sexuality in Teacher Education

Abstract

The school space is uncomfortable for dissident sexual and gender performances and identities. It is common to find teachers who reproduce LGBTI+phobic violence and those who recognize their inability to deal with this issue, demonstrating an intention to deconstruct paradigms by seeking to transform their pedagogical practices. In this sense, this article aims to identify whether and how gender and sexuality are present in ten 'course pedagogical projects' (CPP) of teacher training undergraduate degrees in two public universities in Manaus, Brazil. We carried out documental research, using constructive-interpretative data analysis from a historical-cultural perspective. The results point out the little presence of the theme in the courses' design and subjects' syllabi. Discussions on gender and sexuality occur in specific activities but not transversally throughout the undergraduate course. When discussions explicitly take place, they are grounded on a biological discourse, and the theme is not concretely established in the CPPs. This work contributes to reflecting on the importance of pre-service teachers discussing gender and sexuality. It indicates the need for a pre-and in-service education aimed to deconstruct cis heteronormativity as an alternative to overcome the prejudice that interferes with the know-how in/of school as a welcoming space, open for careful listening, inclusion, and equity, which are essential to a humanizing and emancipatory education.