New public policy for teacher training in Brazil: Vincent van Gogh as an inspiration for the action of the Pedagogical Residency program?

Abstract

In Brazil, in 2018, the federal government proposed the creation of a new public education policy, the Pedagogical Residence program, as one of the actions that integrate the National Teacher Training Policy. The primary function of the Pedagogical Residence program is to support Higher Education Institutions in the implementation of innovative projects that stimulate the articulation between theory and practice in undergraduate courses managed in conjunction with public basic education networks. This paper aims to analyze the possibilities of articulation between art and human formation based on van Gogh’s proposal for the formation of a Studio of the South, as inspiration for the performance/training of teachers within the Brazilian Pedagogical Residency program. As a methodological mechanism we used bibliographic and documental of works related to van Gogh’s biography and letters exchanged between the painter and his associates, as well as texts by researchers in the field of teacher training and teacher artists. The article is divided in two parts: the first provides a brief description of Vincent van Gogh’s life, focusing on his proposal to train artists in a creative atelier, the Studio of the South. The second component of the text presents some aspects of the relationship between art and teacher training, aiming to list arguments around the formation of teachers based on the van Goghian idea.