PORTUGUESE TEACHER´S TRAINING PROCESS: CHALLENGES AND POSSIBILITIES

Abstract

Currently in Brazil, the initial Portuguese teacher´s training process takes place in a very complex socio-historical context. We find ourselves in an era of "academic productivism,” where the emphasis in curriculum development is more on individual projects rather than on strengthening and promoting collaborative efforts. In addition, there is an extra set of demands for the university professor who, according to regulatory documents, must train critical and reflective teachers prepared to deal with certain challenges of contemporary society that can hinder or even make unfeasible a better performance of the professional educator. The aim of this paper is to discuss the main problems surrounding the initial training of Portuguese teachers, with a view to proposing some future guidelines. To carry out the discussion, we conducted an exploratory study anchored in an analysis based on  documentary methodology. Pedagogical projects from educational institutions of the state of Rio Grande do Norte are the focus of our analysis in what refers to the training of Portuguese teachers at PPC/UFRNand PPC/UERN. Our focus in these documents is on three major challenges for the initial training of Portuguese teachers: a) correlating theory to practice; b) training teachers for ongoing changes, such as the introduction of new communication technologies; and c) training teachers to include new social groups that have recently become part of the school community. With the sizeable challenges that professors in training institutions face, there is a need for consistent and ongoing discussion to seek improvements in the training process for teachers.