Teacher Accreditation Courses in Rural Education at UFT: Perspectives and challenges in the construction of a course

Abstract

We present a study about teacher accreditation in rural education at the Federal University at Tocantins (UFT). We analyzed the political and pedagogical aspects of the implementation of the course. We debated the protagonism of social movements in struggles for the right to education and in issues related to higher education policies for rural areas in Brazil. The methodological approach was inspired by oral history, using a qualitative approach. We interviewed teachers who participated in the implementation of the course at UFT, to grasp the expectations and constructions undertaken in the materialization of the accreditation course. The theoretical basis of this study involved a dialogue with authors such as: Caldart, Santos, Molina, Arroyo, Silva and Alberti. We discuss the pedagogy of alternance as a reference to the quality of alternance sought for the accreditation program for rural education and proposals for its enactment.

We find that the implementation of the accreditation course in rural education represents an achievement for the population living in rural areas and is in a process of construction, which requires that its organizers adopt new positions in relation to conflicts and confrontations involved in its realization.