Teacher’s education and school geography: case study between Brazil and Spain

• Grant number: 11/00962-1
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Effective date (Start): July 01, 2011
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal researcher: João Pedro Pezzato
• Grantee: João Pedro Pezzato
• Host: Francisco Rodríguez Lestegás
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Research place: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago (USC), Spain

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to discuss the current curricular organization of the Geography teacher’s education course at University of Santiago de Compostela - USC (Galicia, Spain) and at Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, campus Rio Claro - SP, UNESP-RC (São Paulo, Brazil). In the courses of Major, there is, generally, the prevalence of an anarchic conceptual model, in which the educational contents are assigned to the specific content disciplines that have no link with the disciplines of contents of the reference science. In Brazil, this fact points, in particular, to the need for reflection about the distinction between the Bachelor and the Licentiate education because, paradoxically, in many courses of Geography that have both possibilities of professional education generally there is no significant difference between the curricular components of both modalities. It can be observed the need for an approach of themes related to the reading and writing teaching in the Geography teaching context. There is also a need for discussion about the initial education for teaching and its relation with research experiences, i.e., with knowledge building processes. In a preliminary analysis, it is indicated the urgency of debates that discuss possible contributions of curricular innovations, usually arising from separate experiences, and of the researches in the courses of Major in Geography. (AU)