The Institute for Advanced Transdisciplinary Studies (IEAT), in partnership with the UFMG Support Foundation (Fundep), will inaugurate, on May 29th in the UFMG Rectory auditorium, the Fundep “Magda Soares” Chair in Basic Education. The ceremony will begin at 10 am.

The opening table will be attended by the dean Sandra Regina Goulart Almeida, the president of Fundep, Jaime Arturo Ramírez, the director of IEAT, Patrícia Kauark Leite, the dean of Undergraduate Studies at UFMG, Bruno Teixeira, the director of the Faculty of Education (FaE) of UFMG, Andréa Moreno, and the director of the Center for Literacy, Reading and Writing (Ceale) of FaE, Gilcinei Carvalho, who will give a salute in memory of Magda Becker Soares, emeritus professor at UFMG and reference for studies and for the practice of literacy in Brazil.

This chair represents the initial milestone of a new program of long-term chairs within the scope of IEAT. This program’s main objective is to attract internationally renowned researchers to collaborate in a more organic way with UFMG’s research groups, aiming at the qualified and innovative advancement of transdisciplinary research.

The first chair of this IEAT program will be dedicated to the theme of Basic Education and will be chaired by Professor António Nóvoa, honorary rector of the University of Lisbon and a world reference in studies on teacher training. At the event, he will give the conference “The public responsibility of the university towards teachers and their training”.

Public responsibility for basic education and teacher training

The history of teacher training is divided into two major phases: a first phase, from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, with the existence of normal schools or primary teaching; a second phase, from the mid-20th century to the present day, defined by the responsibility of universities or other higher education institutions. Despite the differences, this chronology applies to practically all countries.

However, despite teacher training representing a significant part of the work of universities – in the case of Brazilian public universities, around 20% of students – this mission has rarely, if ever, been publicly considered a priority. Over the last few decades, there has been work of great merit in many degrees, in the Faculties of Education and in other Schools, Institutes and Faculties. But teacher training has never been central as one of the main missions of universities.

António Nóvoa argues that the current situation of teachers, in the world, and also in Brazil, requires new policies and new institutional frameworks for teacher training, namely with a strong connection between universities and basic education schools, between university teachers and basic education teachers.

Therefore, he emphasizes that the university must assume public responsibility towards teachers and their training. “This responsibility has an internal dimension, with the creation of coordination and decision-making bodies in universities regarding teacher training. And it also has an external dimension, with the creation of joint spaces for teacher training, with the presence of universities and schools, teachers and basic education networks”. – highlights António Nóvoa, arguing that it is time to open a new era in teacher training.

Fundep “Magda Soares” Chair in Basic Education at IEAT

In partnership with the UFMG Support Foundation (Fundep), the Fundep “Magda Soares” Chair in Basic Education represents a milestone within the scope of IEAT. According to professor Patrícia Kauark, director of IEAT, the choice of the theme of “Basic Education” for this first chair reiterates UFMG’s commitment to the most pressing demands of society, contributing to the advancement of scientific knowledge that can directly benefit students, teachers, school managers and public educational policies. “It is also worth highlighting the partnership with Fundep for the design of this chair, being the result of a synergy of efforts aimed at promoting advanced and transdisciplinary research in strategic areas for social development.” – highlights Patrícia Kauark.

The Chair will allow researchers with recognized academic training to remain at the university for a period of up to one year, contributing to the advancement of research and practices in basic education. This will open up enormous possibilities for collaboration with recognized researchers in their respective fields and with very positive impacts on our academic community. According to professor Júlio Emílio Diniz-Pereira, from the Faculty of Education at UFMG and coordinator of the chair of Basic Education at UFMG, the initiative will allow the articulation of the various initiatives that already exist at UFMG in partnerships with Basic Education. “The choice of António Nóvoa to start the Chair is based on the international recognition of his contributions to the field of research on teacher training”. – highlights Júlio Emílio Diniz-Pereira.

Creation of the Minas Gerais teacher training network

UFMG has articulated different fronts of action to strengthen relations with basic education, paying special attention to teacher training. This focus on teacher training does justice to the place it occupies in the academic scenario, whether in undergraduate, postgraduate, extension, research and other sectors of the university. There are 18 undergraduate undergraduate courses, 5 professional master’s degrees in education, 11 specializations aimed at teachers and professionals in Basic Education, postgraduate programs with lines of research that directly dialogue with basic education and teacher training and countless activities. extension and research. The challenge is to establish an epistemological movement that values ​​the production of knowledge in which teachers and Basic Education schools are integrated into this process in a more organic and contextualized way. In this sense, the university has made efforts to establish a teacher training policy that is consistent with this principle, mobilizing teachers, students, other members of the university itself and Basic Education.

The deputy dean of Undergraduate Studies, Maria Flores, professor at the Department of Teaching Methods and Techniques at FaE, highlights UFMG’s work in this regard. “We have our own institutional management arrangements such as the Committee for Discussion and Elaboration of Policies for Initial and Continuing Training of Basic Education Teachers at UFMG (Comfic) and the Special Collegiate of Degrees (Collicen) and we intend to implement a University and Basic Education board that allows bringing together teaching, research and extension actions and programs aimed at training Basic Education teachers. At the same time, we have worked together with the 19 public higher education institutions (HEIs) in Minas Gerais and established a Basic Education teacher training network in Minas Gerais that seeks to share experiences and safeguard this principle in the teacher training policies of each institution” – details Maria Flores.

The Fundep “Magda Soares” Chair in Basic Education at IEAT also has the support of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies at UFMG, which has been involved in a set of UFMG actions aimed at strengthening relations between the university and basic education schools .