A formação de professores de matemática no curso do MIT/Univale: marginalidade, protagonismo e extinção (Minas Gerais: 1968-2012)

Abstract

In this thesis we construct a history of mathematics teachers’ education in the first higher education institution of Governador Valadares, a city in the state of Minas Gerais, Brasil. The investigation aimed to understand the role of teachers’ education in the institution, Universidade Vale do Rio Doce (Univale), formerly Minas Instituto de Tecnologia (MIT). The methodology of Oral History was used for constituting and analysing 16 narratives of former students or professors of the course throughout its existence. The production of the narratives was grounded on interviews which were recorded, transcripted and textualized. In addition to these narratives, we analyzed several other sources, such as documents authored by Federal Council of Education, newspaper articles, lesson plans and internal documents of the institution. The research covers the period 1968-2012. In 1968, the first group of students entered the course, while the last student graduated in 2012. Unlike other mathematics courses created at the same time, Governador Valadares' course was not established in a philosophy faculty, but in an Institute of Technology (MIT) which had been created for the purpose of training engineers. The initial motivations for the emergence of the course were the training of mathematicians for scientific research and the financial needs of the institution, which saw the offer of degrees as a way to increase its income. However, its main contribution to the city and region was the training of teachers to meet the demand of schools and the institution itself. The course was initially developed in four years having as its goal offering a degree in Mathematics designed to prepare teachers. Subsequently, it was modified, and aimed at preparing science teachers. At last, in the early 2000s, it became again a course in Mathematics. In our analysis, we consider three phases of this trajectory. The first of these covers the initial period from 1968 to 1977, when the course was converted into a course in science. The second extends to 1996, the year of publication of the current Guidelines and Bases Law. The third begins in 1997 and ends with the extinction of the course in 2012. In the third phase, part of the faculty got closer to the field of Mathematics Education, which brought important changes to the course. Concerns about teacher education came to occupy a central place, and there was at least partially the overcoming of the 3 + 1 training model. The marginal role that the course had played in the institution in its first two phases changed to that of the protagonist in its last phase. Financial issues, linked to the private status of the institution, were remarkable in its trajectory: besides motivating the creation of the course, these issues intervened in several decisions that were made in it. The course was extincted after the last class of students joined in 2005. The extinction of the course can be explained mainly by the low demand of candidates, due to the lack of interest in the teaching profession, and the competition from other institutions which began to offer, in Governador Valadares, the distance learning course.