Teaching knowledges and initial teacher education: implications and challenges to proposals of formation

Abstract

This work had as its objective to discuss the implications and repercussions of the studies about Knowledge Base upon the initial education of teachers. This field of research emerged internationally in the 1980s, and has been showing signs of significant diffusion and expansion. The importance of the studies on this topic is attributed largely to their potential in the development of formative actions that go beyond the academic approach, to involve the personal, professional, and organizational dimensions of the teaching profession. The study analyzes the works of major authors in this field, such as Tardif, Gauthier, and Schulman. The analysis of this production was made from two viewpoints: first, it tried to apprehend how teaching knowledges are defined under a conceptual and typological perspective, and then it hinted at alternatives of theoretical and practical natures to teacher initial education. The study reveals that the creation of a repertoire of knowledges for teaching, having as its reference the professional knowledges of the teachers as mobilized and employed by them in their various daily work contexts allows the introduction of formation devices aiming at habituating the future educators to professional practice. It highlights the need of ensuring that the cultural, scientific, pedagogical, and disciplinary formations are linked to the practical formation, thereby consolidating a Theory of Teaching.