Institutional Strategies for the Teacher Training at a Brazilian Public University in Brazil—Elements of Reflection

Abstract

University pedagogy has been promoted in the context of the policy for valuing undergraduate training at the University of São Paulo (USP). In this regard, one action of the Undergraduate Pro-Rectory was the creation of pedagogic support groups. The objective of this study is to report and analyze the strategies for university teacher training developed by the Pedagogic Support Group at the Ribeirão Preto Campus (GAPRP/USP-Grupo de Apoio Pedagógico do Campus de Ribeirão Preto), during the period from 2002 to 2015. The group takes on a conception of teacher training that extrapolates the technical dimension, considering political-social and historical determinants that have shaped the university, undergraduate teaching, and the faculty, as well as the valorization of strategies promoting reflection, theoretical-practical articulation, and collective learning. During the day-to-day monitoring of these education strategies, a few aspects are highlighted and analyzed: identification of the need for pedagogic training as an individual initiative of the teaching staff, despite the policies for valuing undergraduate training; investment in continuous educational strategies and the education undergone by the faculty that compose GAPRP/USP. To conclude, teacher training means to value the construction of a political project so as to qualify university teachers.