Curricular Changes in Teacher Education: A View of Comparative Research in Three Contexts

Abstract

This work is part of a project whose objective was to study curricular changes in teacher training programs from a comparative approach. We studied the curriculum of three universities (Harvard, University of Minho and UFTM) from 3 different countries (United States, Portugal and Brazil) in the last two decades. To achieve our goals, in addition to literature review and document analysis, we visited the universities, made observations, and interviewed teachers and students. We used content analysis and comparative education methodologies to analyze data. Results highlighted that practice-centered programs prevails in American education; that a praxis focused approach is emphasized in Portugal; and that there is a pursuit of a historical-critical guidance in Brazil (mainly revealed in teachers’ discourses) with strong multicultural trend in current curricular policies. Our findings helped us to understand how those three universities make links between theory and practice in the training of their teachers, and drew attention to HTF (Harvard Teachers Fellows Program) for its school practice immersion since the very beginning of the program. Studying those experiences from a comparative point of view can help curriculum planners, higher education managers and policy makers devoted to the field of teacher education to develop courses/programs that are neither excessively pragmatic, nor idealized and detached from school routine. The project was funded by CNPq.



Author Information
Graziela Giusti Pachane, Universidade Federal do Triangulo Mineiro, Brazil

Paper Information
Conference: IICEHawaii2017
Stream: Curriculum research and development

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Posted by James Alexander Gordon