THE HUMANITIES IN THE TRAINING OF KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS AND TEACHERS OF THE FIRST CYCLE OF BASIC EDUCATION IN PORTUGUESE UNIVERSITIES
Humanities studies; Basic education; Teacher training.
This work aims to discuss the changes in teacher training for performance in early childhood education and primary years in Portugal, problematizing the place of humanities in the curricula of the investigated courses. Through a hermeneutic study, we analyzed the curriculum organization and interviewed six directors of four training courses for kindergarten teachers and teachers of the 1st cycle of basic education in Portugal. The research was conducted in public universities in light of norms, guidelines and country guidelines that deal with teacher education in dialogue with authors who address humanities and teacher training, such as Flickinger, Leite, Biesta and Nóvoa. In addition, Martha Nussbaum’s reflections on the global trend of university humanities drying up helped us to reflect on the topic. Despite the recognition of advances in teacher training established by the legislation in force in Portugal, some factors brought certain dissatisfaction to the directors of the courses investigated, such as the crystallization of curricula. Governments of different countries and political-ideological approaches have promoted the logic of developing profitable skills in different stages of education. As a result of this movement, humanities, and arts have been eliminated from the curricula. This movement appears very strongly in Europe and therefore in Portugal, given the educational recommendations of the Council of the European Union.