O professor do curso de odontologia e a formação odontológica atual: formação, saberes e práticas pedagógicas em tempo de Novas Diretrizes Curriculares

Abstract

This study addressed the issue of university teaching and aimed to draw the profile of a professor of Dentistry, critically analyzing their formation, their knowledge and pedagogic duties, as well as the influence of these three aspects on the professional profile of the surgery dentist graduating nowadays, under the terms of the new National Curriculum Guidelines for the area. The research, qualitative, had as subject teachers of the graduation course from the Faculdade de Odontologia da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (FOUFU), and the instruments used for data collection were a semi-structured questionnaire, the room class observation and semi-structured interview. Answered the questionnaire, forty-one of sixty professors who teach classes at the institution and were observed 142 hours/class from disciplines of eleven teachers, from the four training centers which are distributed by the curriculum components of FOUFU: humanistic, vocational, basic and specific. Eleven professors participated in the interviews. A documentary research was conducted, which covered the current Law of Directives and Bases of National Education, the new National Curriculum Guidelines for a degree in Dentistry, the Bylaws and the new Pedagogic Project of FOUFU. The theoretical foundations that allowed the dialogue with the data had as references Cunha, Tardif, Nóvoa, Pimenta, Anastasiou, Castanho, Behrens, Masetto, Libâneo, Vasconcelos, Fernandes, Isaía, Bolzan, Moysés, Carvalho, Lucietto, Matos, among others. The questionnaires and interviews provided data for the attainment of the profile of a professor of Dentistry and understanding of its formation history. The classroom was the locus for the analysis of their doings and knowledge, as well as to identify reflections of these aspects on the current dental education. Data analysis, guided by the theoretical framework, demonstrated that the initial and continuing formation of Dentistry teachers happens, strongly, by the specific field of knowledge, revealing a gap in teacher training. Their practices and speeches revealed the conception of a ―naturalized‖ teaching design that one can ―learn by doing‖, experienced by them when students and inspired from former teachers. This effect was also reinforced by the absence of institutional support for pedagogical improvement of the teachers, as well as the rationale of the evaluation policy and the legislation itself, which stimulate the formation of the researcher, with fruitful scientific production, belittling and ―streamlining‖ the formation of educator. Thus, perpetuating traditional teaching practices that hinder the formation of graduates with a distinctive and professional profile in line with what is advocated by the new curricular guidelines for Dentistry graduation. The traditional vision that many teachers have of the social role of Dentistry and Oral Health leads them to insist on practices that strengthen the business and elitist model of the Brazilian Dentistry, dismissing the profound changes that have occurred since the time when many of them have become professionals in a completely different context of the current.