Início da carreira e saberes da docência na Educação Profissional e Tecnológica

Abstract

In this study, we seek to understand how early career teachers in/of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of the State of Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN) construct and value teaching knowledge. More specifically, this research aimed at discussing the history and the present situation of teacher education for professional and technological education in Brazil, to understand the configurations that were articulated for the choice of teaching career by the subjects studied and to analyze how these beginner teachers value the knowledge of the teaching work. For this, the study was carried out through a documentary-bibliographic research followed by an empirical research. The documentary-bibliographic research was anchored in educational Brazilian legislation and the main authors/works of reference for the historical contextualization of the Federal Network and the IFRN, such as Cunha (2000, 2005), Ortigara and Ganzeli (2013), Silva (2012) and Pereira 2010); For the higher education of teachers in professional education, authors such as Machado (2008, 2013) and Oliveira (2013); For the study of teaching, Tardif (2014), Gauthier (2006) Pimenta (2005), Moura (2014) and Araujo (2008). The empirical research was based, firstly, on the investigation of the research subjects, using the IFRN's public administration system (SUAP) and the Lattes platform of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). The second stage of the empirical investigation was based on a qualitative approach and used the autobiographical narratives as a data collection strategy. The study revealed that the work of the teacher is mentioned in the all of the references described above and that teaching constitutes a profession, lacking a base of knowledge of its own. We infer that the teachers investigated in most cases did not plan teaching as a career, but for a variety of reasons they ended up choosing the profession in question. We consider that the process of teacher learning and, therefore, the acquisition of experiential knowledge takes place in the experience itself, in the sharing and reflection of the doing, as well as in the contact with peers, students and the Institution’s practice. We infer that the teachers investigated have demonstrated to understand, mobilize and value knowledge of the content, the practical work experience, the pedagogical concepts, the IFRN’s own curricula and the one related to teacher / student interaction. However, in this repertoire, in the view of the research subjects, the knowledge of the work experience comes at a higher level. We conclude this work by pointing out the urgent demand shown by studies on the initial and continuous learning of the teaching of the EFA teachers, in the face of the consolidation and expansion of the Federal Institutes and the numerous hiring of teachers, mostly bachelors and beginners in teaching.