A Marginalized Laity

For the period 1922–1967 the Catholic Church opposed any notion of joint responsibility between laity and clergy for primary and secondary schooling. It did so in order to be able to pursue unhindered its major interest in schooling, which was ‘the salvation of souls’ and the production of priests, brothers, nuns, and a loyal middle class. Further, the State cooperated with the Church because in doing so it was able to pursue its own aim of producing a literate and numerate citizenry, pursuing nation building, and preparing an adequate number of secondary school graduates to address the requirements of the public service and the professions without having to provide schools. The Church legitimated the involvement of the teaching religious in associated practices with parents, school inspectors, and lay teachers. Relatedly, it worked to try to ensure that the voices of educationists who were not religious received little hearing in relation to education policy-making. A small number of secondary schools run largely by lay Catholics were able to operate. The individuals in question, in establishing these schools, quietly contested the hegemony of the Catholic clergy and religious in the provision of education, and indicated what might be possible in the future.

Práxis educativa das professoras alfabetizadoras de Cascavel – Ceará

A alfabetização universal das crianças até o final dos primeiros anos do Ensino Fundamental ainda é um problema no Brasil e em várias cidades do país, como é o caso de Cascavel, no Ceará. O objetivo foi compreender que correntes pedagógicas orientam as práticas educativas utilizadas pelas professoras alfabetizadoras, que atuam em classes de 1°, 2° e 3° ano, da Escola Júlia de Melo. Desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa de abordagem qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso, que utilizou a história oral temática como metodologia. As entrevistas, enquanto instrumento de coleta de dados, permitiram gravar, transcrever, textualizar e validar as narrativas orais das três professoras alfabetizadoras que trabalham na escola investigada. Os resultados revelaram que todas as professoras iniciaram a docência como professoras leigas, no entanto, realizaram a licenciatura em Pedagogia em regime especial pela Universidade Vale do Acaraú, com recursos próprios. As atuações como alfabetizadoras deram-se sem qualquer formação específica. Apenas uma professora identificou a corrente pedagógica que orientava suas práticas, o construtivismo. As demais, além de demonstrarem desconhecimento, adotavam práticas sintéticas e tradicionais, culpabilizando o aluno e suas famílias pelo fracasso escolar. Importa fomentar formação contínua com mote na reflexão e ressignificação da práxis educativa.Palavras-chave: Alfabetização. Práticas educativas. História oral.Educational praxis of literacy teachers in Cascavel - CearáABSTRACTThe universal literacy of children until the end of the first grades of elementary school is still a problem in Brazil and in several cities in the country, as is the case of Cascavel, in Ceará. The objective was to understand which pedagogical currents guide the educational practices used by literacy teachers, who work in grades 1, 2 and 3, at Escola Júlia de Melo. A qualitative research was developed, in the type of case study, which used thematic oral history as a methodology. The interviews, as a data collection instrument, allowed to record, transcribe, textualize and validate the oral narratives of the three literacy teachers who work in the investigated school. The results revealed that all teachers started teaching as lay teachers, however, they did a degree in Pedagogy in a special regime by the Universidade Vale do Acaraú, with their own resources. The performances in literacy took place without any specific training. Only one teacher identified the pedagogical current that guided her practices, constructivism, the others, in addition to demonstrating ignorance, adopted synthetic and traditional practices, blaming the student and their families for school failure. It is important to promote continuous training with a view to reflecting on and re-signifying educational praxis.Keywords: Literacy. Educational practices. Oral history.Praxis educativa de los profesores de alfabetización en Cascavel - CearáRESUMENLa alfabetización universal de los niños hasta el final de los primeros grados de la escuela primaria sigue siendo un problema en Brasil y en varias ciudades del país, como es el caso de Cascavel, en Ceará. El objetivo era comprender qué corrientes pedagógicas guían las prácticas educativas utilizadas por los maestros de alfabetización, que trabajan en los grados 1, 2 y 3, en la Escola Júlia de Melo. Se desarrolló una investigación cualitativa, en el tipo de estudio de caso, que utilizó la historia oral temática como metodología. Las entrevistas, como instrumento de recolección de datos, permitieron registrar, transcribir, textualizar y validar las narraciones orales de los tres maestros de alfabetización que trabajan en la escuela investigada. Los resultados revelaron que todos los maestros comenzaron a enseñar como maestros laicos, sin embargo, obtuvieron un título en Pedagogía en un régimen especial de la Universidade Vale do Acaraú, con sus propios recursos. El desempeño en alfabetización se realizó sin capacitación específica. Solo un maestro identificó la corriente pedagógica que guía sus prácticas, el constructivismo, los demás, además de demostrar ignorancia, adoptaron prácticas sintéticas y tradicionales, culpando a los estudiantes y sus familias por el fracaso escolar. Es importante promover la formación continua con miras a reflexionar y volver a significar la praxis educativa.Palabras clave: Alfabetización. Prácticas educativas. Historia oral.

The Experience of Being a Lay Teacher in Catholic Schools: An Approach for Investigating the History of an Under-researched Field

Internationally, there has been a major output of empirical research on Catholic education over the last two decades. However, it has not been accompanied by a similar corpus of related work indicating possible new directions such research could take, including those that could be undertaken by using a diverse range of methodologies on a wide range of topics neglected to date. This paper indicates one such direction that could be taken in relation to historical research on lay teachers in Catholic schools from the 1940s to the present. First, the historiographical work that has been undertaken on the history of teachers more broadly is considered. An overview on the official status of the laity and the lay teacher historically within the Church is then considered. Finally, an argument for the use of a «life story» research approach for the generation of research questions to investigate the experience of being a lay teacher in Catholic schools. The approach is suitable for «insider research», where the focus is on investigating issues that were of concern for participants, rather than on pursuing pre-ordained questions of interest to the researcher and which usually arise primarily from a reading of the relevant background literature only.

Contextualizando a educação continuada de professores de línguas estrangeiras no Brasil

RESUMO:A expressão “Educação Continuada” (EC) ou “Formação Continuada” aparece nos documentos oficiais brasileiros de maneira ampla e genérica, compreendendo qualquer tipo de atividade que venha a contribuir para o desempenho profissional. Muitos documentos intitulam de programas de EC os que formam professores das redes municipais e estaduais (aqueles professores chamados de professores leigos), tanto em nível médio quanto superior. O objetivo deste artigo é contextualizar e problematizar a educação continuada de professores de línguas estrangeiras (LE) no Brasil. A trajetória teórico-metodológica deste estudo ancora-se na teoria do discurso e nos estudos da Linguística Aplicada. Mediante a análise dos discursos que circulam nos documentos oficiais sobre a EC, pode-se dizer, a partir do panorama ora apresentado, que diversos órgãos do poder público brasileiro chancelam a EC em âmbito geral, mas os incentivos parecem não alcançar todas as áreas do conhecimento. Nessa perspectiva, vale indagar como se vêm realizando propostas de educação continuada em línguas estrangeiras no Brasil e quais incentivos existem de fato. As reflexões suscitadas pelo estudo revelam que as legislações se constituem a partir de processos históricos e são fruto de negociações sociais, políticas e ideológicas que, ao mesmo tempo em que abrem espaço para as iniciativas de EC, também as circunscrevem a partir de discursos do que se considera ensinar e aprender um LE no contexto brasileiro. A partir dessa contextualização da educação continuada, é importante trazer tais discussões para o campo da Linguística Aplicada ao ensino de LE, para produzir reflexões para esse campo.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: educação continuada; língua estrangeira; formação de professores. ABSTRACT:The term "Continuing Education" (CE) appears in Brazilian official documents widely and generally, including any kind of activity that will contribute to the professional performance. Many of these official documents name CE programmes those that train teachers from municipal and state school systems (those teachers called lay teachers), those without secondary and graduated levels. This paper aims at contextualizing and discussing the continuing education of foreign language teachers (EFL) of English language in Brazil. The theoretical-methodological trajectory of this study is based on discourse theories and applied linguistics studies. Through the analysis of the discourses circulating in official documents about the CE, it is possible to state, from the presented scenario, that several Brazilian public authorities approve the CE in general context, but the encouragements do not seem to reach all areas of knowledge. Through this perspective, it is worth asking how have the proposals for continuing education in foreign languages in Brazil been developed and what kind of actions have been put into practice. Reflections arising from this paper reveal that the laws are formed by historical processes and are the result of social, political and ideological negotiations, which seem to give opportunities for changes, however end up been limited by representations about what means to teach and learn a foreign language in the Brazilian context. Summing up, from these perspectives about continuing education, it is important to bring such discussions to the field of applied linguistics to EFL teaching to produce reflections for this field.KEYWORDS: continuing education; foreign language; teacher education.