Discursos presentes em um processo de reestruturação curricular de um curso de licenciatura em física: o legal, o real, e o possível

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Currículos de formação de professores de língua portuguesa: instituições autônomas e o poder de sua história

Baseia-se em uma pesquisa interinstitucional que focaliza o âmbito mais amplo em que são formuladas e implementadas as políticas de formação de professores no Estado de São Paulo. Tem por objetivo contribuir para a elucidação das forças presentes em movimentos de reforma curricular nos cursos de licenciatura, cotejando dados e aspectos socioculturais e institucionais circundantes. A análise incide sobre projetos pedagógicos de dois cursos de Letras de duas universidades públicas paulistas. Essas instituições desenvolveram, nos últimos anos, projetos ou ações de formação de professores para a escola básica, e é nesse contexto que se inserem os projetos pedagógicos analisados, que são tomados como exemplos de caminhos diferenciados que as universidades traçam, influenciadas pela história de cada instituição. O procedimento de pesquisa adotado foi a análise documental e o conceito de currículo em processo orientou as reflexões desenvolvidas. Reafirma-se, como em outros estudos, que a necessária integração entre saberes pedagógicos e saberes provenientes da área de referência continua sendo tarefa difícil, que as circunstâncias na criação dos cursos e a formação superposta deixou suas marcas nas instituições e que as tentativas para superá-la constituem exemplos esparsos e não modelos generalizados, o que ressalta a relevância da continuidade das pesquisas sobre o currículo dos cursos de licenciatura.

Teaching in the community: Changing and implementing a new curriculum

The Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu is changing to, and implementing a new curriculum aimed at integrating teaching and learning in the community. Emphasis is on preparing the community settings for teaching, learning and providing health care. A particular task is staff development with emphasis on problem-based learning (PBL) and training medical and nursing students in the leadership to participate in this process. The new curriculum includes the gradual introduction of clinical practice during First Year, integration of the basic sciences with clinical sciences, through integrated modules studied in small groups, and maintenance of the two year clerkship. The undergraduates are introduced gradually to the community: 8% of the total curriculum during First Year, 10% during Second Year, 10% during Third Year, 20% during Fourth Year, 30% during Fifth and Sixth Years. The basic health units at primary care level, and the regional specialty outpatients and hospitals at the second level, are the main teaching sites. An Education Development Committee was established to discuss the strategies for supporting the changes and to structure the planning for promoting the gradual transformation of staff development. After 18 months of implementation of the curriculum, there followed discussions and monitoring of the objectives of changes in medical education at our school. Successful implementation of the new curriculum would fail, if the objectives were not absorbed by every member of the implementation Committee.

An Educational international partnership responding to local needs: Process evaluation of the Brazil FAIMER Regional Institute

The Brazilian public health system requires competent professionals sensitive to the needs of the population. The Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) provides a two-year faculty development programme for health professions educators, aiming to build leadership in education to improve health. A partnership with governmental initiatives and FAIMER was established for meeting these needs. This paper describes the initial process evaluation results of the Brazilian FAIMER Institute Fellowship (FAIMER BR). Methods: Data were analysed for the classes 2007-2010 regarding: application processes; innovation project themes; retrospective post-pre self-ratings of knowledge acquisition; and professional development portfolios. Results: Seventeen of 26 Brazilian states were represented among 98 Fellows, predominantly from public medical schools (75.5%) and schools awarded Ministry of Health grants to align education with public health services (89.8%). One-third (n = 32) of Fellows' innovation projects were related to these grants. Significant increases occurred in all topic subscales on self-report of knowledge acquisition (eff ect sizes, 1.21-2.77). In the follow up questionnaire, 63% of Fellows reported that their projects were incorporated into the curriculum or institutional policies. The majority reported that the programme deepened their knowledge (98%), provided new ideas about medical education (90%) and provided skills for conflict management (63%). One-half of the Fellows reported sustained benefits from the programme listserv and other communications, including breadth of expertise, establishment of research collaboration and receiving emotional support. Conclusion: Contributors to initial programme success included alignment of curriculum with governmental initiatives, curriculum design merging educational technology, leadership and management skills and central role of an innovation educational project responding to local needs.