Fatores que influenciam a Agência Profissional do Estudante de Pedagogia (APEP) durante a formação inicial de professores: estudo na Universidade do Leste da Finlândia e na Universidade Federal do Ceará

Abstract

This research, carried out in a joint partnership between the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) and the Federal University of Ceará (FUC), investigated the Student Teacher Professional Agency (STPA) and the factors that influence it during initial teacher training at both institutions. STPA can be understood as the engagement of the student teachers in managing their own learning process aimed at continued professional development, something necessary in view of the rapid changes and uncertainties that schools have been experiencing lately (Soini et al., 2015). Adopting an ecological perspective (Biesta; Tedder, 2006), STPA was analyzed as a transactional practice shaped by the following factors: the negotiation of the teacher's professional identity (Vähäsantanen et al., 2019), curricular coherence (Canrinus et al., 2017) and the learning environment of teacher training (Soini et al., 2015). The study adopted a mixed methodology with data collection through questionnaires and curricular analysis from both universities. These data served to outline the UEF and FUC as the case studies of the research, selected as representatives of the Global North and South respectively, for being actively involved in international collaborations focused on teacher training. The research was developed in two stages. In the first stage, with a quantitative nature, the STPA and the factors that influence it were analyzed separately to characterize the case studies. The collection of quantitative data in both Brazil and Finland took place between 2019 and 2022 in the classroom, in person and virtually, with 283 (FUC) and 362 (UEF) student teachers in all years of their respective universities’ programs. In the second stage, with mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, a comparative analysis of the STPA and the negotiation of teacher identity was developed. In addition to analyzing the quantitative data obtained in the previous stage, a qualitative content analysis was applied to the curricular components of the respective Pedagogy Courses to identify how elements of STPA and the negotiation of teacher identity emerge in the teacher training curricula. The results showed that the negotiation of teacher identity is the factor that most strongly regulates STPA throughout teacher training at both universities. Furthermore, STPA is influenced by the perceptions of student teachers about curricular coherence— mainly with regard to the connection between what is learned in theory and what is applied and observed in practice — and the learning environment —mainly with regard to students feeling recognized by their teacher educators and mentors. In the comparative analysis, Brazilian students presented a significantly higher self-perception of STPA than Finnish students. This result, critically discussed in the dissertation, reiterates the existing Brazilian literature on the adherence that Brazilian students need to make when choosing a teaching career due to its challenges (Gatti, 2010; Nunes, 2008). At the same time, the results were surprising in view of the international literature, which highlights the high quality of teacher training in Finland (Chung, 2019). Finally, it was observed that elements of STPA and identity negotiation emerge differently in each university curriculum. Both programs place great emphasis on the themes of “Didactics” and “Professional Teacher”, addressing elements of STPA and professional teacher identity directly. Complementarily, the themes “Inclusive Education” and “Critical Perspectives on Education” also stood out for addressing how student teachers must continually learn about the individual needs of their students while dealing with broader social constraints. This research offers insights for the design of teacher education programs that effectively nurture STPA in a way that is contextualized to local demands in an increasingly globalized scenario.