The transformations in the university and the consequences in the formation and academic work

Abstract

The general objective of this paper was to understand the teachers’ formation and work in the Brazilian university context in the beginning of this century as a consequence of public policies formulated by the educational agenda. The research had the objective to study the transformations suffered in the paradigm of a university teacher/researcher formation. The academic practice is understood as a human job built by subjects inserted in a historically and socially localized space. As research tools, we employed the theoretical investigation, documental analysis, participant observation, discourse analysis, and text analysis aiming at understanding the ideological, social and subjective aspects of the subjects studied, individuals (university teachers who are doing a Master degree in Education) and collective (public institutions that produce the official texts about public policies for higher education in Brazil). The discourse analysis was used in two different ways: in the study of texts collected concerning public policies for the higher education in Brazil, and, at the end, in the analysis of texts produced by researchers and the subjects of research. It was concluded that there was a change of paradigm; by demonstrating that the discourse critical analysis on education leads to transformation in academic positions, and that subjects transformed their pedagogical practices. In this perspective, it becomes essential to understand work as a fundamental dimension in human life capable of qualitatively transforming the environment, not only in their objective aspects but also in their subjective ones, from the configuration of the university institution in the knowledge society, as well as the influence of public policies on the formulation of this new paradigm.