Português
The Post-Graduate Program in Education of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (PPGE) began with the creation of the Master’s Program in 1972, and then it expanded with the creation of the PhD program in 1980. The pioneering spirit of this particular graduate program in education, one of the first created in this country, places it as one of the principal training centers for master’s candidates and, in more recent years, for doctoral students in the area of education. This program has been able to train and post-graduate an impressive amount of researchers, who, during these last 45 years, came to constitute the teaching faculty of a great number of Brazilian universities.
As of December 2016, 1.151 master’s dissertations and 283 doctorate theses were defended. From 2006 onwards, all the dissertations and all the doctoral theses have been available for download in a PDF format, on the website of the University of Education of the UFRJ.
The expansion of PPGE’s trajectory is representative of the innovations that have been occurring in educational research in this country. If, on the one hand, this characteristic permitted the build-up of a rich and consistent experience in knowledge production, on the other hand, it involved various necessary reformulations of its structure, in the midst of transformations that have occurred within a scenario of expansion of Public Federal Universities and Post-graduate Programs in Brazil. All of these changes have involved continuous forms of action, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, ruptures in both the organizational and curricular aspects of the Program and forms of understanding and carrying out academic research. They have made visible new beginnings under the influence of traditions, along with moments of expansion and innovations.
In the process of enhancing the program, there was substantial improvement as measured qualitatively by the elevation of the score from 3 to 5 in the triennial evaluation of CAPES (Commission of Improvement for Personnel of Higher Education) – 2007-2009. Note that such scores were maintained in the evaluation of the last three-year term. During this time, PPGE obtained a good grade in a great range of issues.
In the actual moment of closure of the quadrennium 2013-2016, it is worth presenting the achievements that forged one more chapter in recent history and contribute to designing new goals for the quadrennium that begins in 2017.
We bring attention to the following points that were emphasized in this last quadrennium:
i) Gradual expansion of the teaching staff – At the end of the last three-year term, the PPGE had 28 professors. It is now closing the quadrennium with 41 and will continue 2017 with four more licensed professionals. With these new additions, the program will have about a 30% increase in the actual licensed professionals of the Faculty of Education. The systematic policy of accreditation and auto-evaluation has favored an expansion of rules and clear criteria for the entrance and retention of faculty members in PPGE. This caused the professors of the Faculty of Education to dedicate themselves to more writing and pursue more research in the areas of their expertise and teaching experience. The accompaniment of the faculty members and students’ progress in research and written work by the general coordination of the program and by coordinators of each line of research also played an important role in the auto evaluation processes of the licensed professors. Thus, the expansion in the number of teaching staff in the program also brought about a higher level of quality in the development of PPGE.
(ii) Reconfiguration of the lines of research according to qualitative and quantitative growth in the faculty members of the Faculty of Education of the UFRJ. The gradual and well-structured expansion of the research areas represented a way of updating the connection between the research groups and expanding with consistency the scope of the program. The PPGE maintained the internal coherence of every line of research that was created, which can be clearly seen in the visible interlinking between research projects, the faculty members’ and students capacity for writing and publishing their work and the supervisions. The lines of research were reconfigured in an organic and coherent manner, which made it possible to describe their thematic, theoretical and conceptual specificities in an improved manner over time. With this process of expansion, a curricular reform was achieved.
The PPGE until 2012 oriented each investigation around two lines of research: i)Curriculum and Language and ii) Policies or Educational Institutions. The maturity of discussions concerning the reconfiguration of lines of research and the demands of training in post-graduate studies across the state of Rio de Janeiro allowed for the creation in 2013 of a third line of research entitled “History, Subjects and Educational Processes”, in 2014 a fourth line of research, “Inclusion, ethics and Interculturality” and, in 2017, when opening the new quadrennium, a fifth line of research, “State, Work-Education and Social Movements”. The field of research entitled Curriculum and Language, with a new configuration, was renamed “Curriculum, Teaching and Language”.
(iii) Curricular reformulation and reformulation of the regulation of PPGE – The expansion of lines of research and the curricular reformulation has led to changes in the regulations of the program. As can be observed in the item Curriculum of this platform, every line of research contains courses that refer to the objectives and interests of research and also obligatory disciplines that are considered to be basic and integrative to the fabric of the program. This entire process of curricular reformulation has been debated in the collegiate of PPGE and in a work group composed of coordinators of each line of research and representatives of the deliberative commission, which includes student representation, understood to be crucial in the process of proposing necessary changes and innovations. In addition to the alteration of the disciplines and their course syllabuses, curricular innovations also are being considered, beyond the ones that are already taking place. It is our goal to conclude this process in 2017.
(iv) Improvement in the management of collective written work produced by faculty members and students. We call attention to the means of socialization of the results of such research. At the end of this quadrennium, more than 70% of the faculty research has been published in journals of degrees quails A1 to B2. Also the number of publications in books that are evaluated by funding agencies, representing results of research, publications in a foreign language and faculty research production is extensive. This faculty activity becomes visible when we observe the participation of professors as external members of examination boards, lecturers, reviewers ad hoc, etc. as well as the large number of applicants to the master’s and PhD programs, Students are applying to the program from a wide number of municipalities and Brazilian states. With each passing year, more and more people from diverse locations seek out the services of PPGE, trying to connect with the specific projects headed by different professors.
v)Improvement in the flow of students and the quality of the research productions – Weekly participation in the research group of the advisor (they are 2 obligatory semesters of Research practices for students in the Master’s Program and 3 semesters for the students in the doctoral program) has favored not only the students’ flow of activities with defenses of theses and dissertations within the stipulated period, but also has affected the quality of the work that has been defended. The proximity with the research group interferes in the quality of the individual projects, favoring identity fortification and granting density to the research productions. This most definitely favors the closer accompaniment of the research projects that are being constructed. This also explains why in the quadrennium the estimate for conclusion of the master’s degree was 26 months and for the doctoral degree it was 48,5 months. In both courses the PPGE was able to diminish the time involved in gaining the degree by following through with one of its goals.
vi) National exchanges: The quadrennium also shows the expansion of partnerships, exchanges and academic exchanges. Expressed in projects, seminars, congresses, technical visits, post-doctoral (both of teachers doing their internships and supervising), disciplines shared between programs, intense flow of students outside PPGE, among others. There was a significant expansion of nucleation of research groups with research activities in different University of Brazil and also foreign. In 2016, 17 interinstitutional projects are underway at PPGE. The DINTER with the UFPI-Campus Floriano will have its last thesis defended in March of 2017 (of the 12 doctoral students only 1 gave up). At the end of 2016 a new DINTER was now approved with the State University of Bahia - UEBA Campus Caetité, evidencing the necessary solidarity between programs and teachers.
vi) International exchanges: the quadrennium also was especially significant due to the consolidation of some important international partnerships. Among these, we find it important to emphasize: a) the development of research through networks constructed with 4 projects in progress: “Project Base Line Brazil: A Longitudinal study of the Trajectory of Children’s Learning Process”, International Observatory of inclusion, interculturality and pedagogical innovation”, “Educational Project of the Network in Children’s Education: An evaluation of the context”, “Entrance and permanence of black and brown-skinned students in superior education: Signs of progress and challenges in a comparative perspective Brazil – USA”; b) Maximization of visiting professors and international operations - We received in PPGE, in this quadrennium , many foreign professors who participate in seminars and meetings about research. Within PPGE, the professors’ increased participation in international seminars also was noteworthy. We emphasize, however, certain assignments that have permitted greater depth on certain subject matters: Professor Antônio Nóvoa as a visiting professor in 2016 who will give continuity to a vast project in professors’ training from the UFRJ with his year-long visit in 2017, as Senior Visiting Professor; Prof. Chrisophe Niewiadom of the University of Lill 3 – supervisor of the post-doctorate student Carmen Teresa Gabriel who gave a series of talks in FE; Professors Peter Tymms and Christine Merrell – Durham University- amplification and consolidation of interchange of the research project “Line of base”, a technical operation carried out by the Professor Rosana Heringer with New York University and Wayne State University within the realm of academic interchange program Abdias Nascimento; c) The increase in publications in foreign languages and/or in partnership with foreign professors; d) The increase in the participation of students in doctorate sandwiche programs that result in a major proximity between PPGE and Post-graduate Programs in different countries such as Cuba, Portugal, France, Spain, USA, England, Italy and Mexico.
vii) Improvement in the system of information and diffusion of the research production of PPGE. The site of PPGE went through a process of reformulation and updating, given that the information was translated into English. Various laboratories and research groups invested in pages and sites, which ended up giving more visibility to the actions and research productions of their members.
viii)Continuity in the education of master’s and doctoral students who are prepared to take part in activities of research and teaching – In the quadrennium 2013-2016 the PPGE conceded titles to 78 doctoral students and 173 masters students per year. In the previous trennium (2010-2012), it had conceded titles to 25 doctoral students and 69 masters students, an average rate of 8 PhDs and 23 master’s degrees per year. This growth occurred not only because of the increase of the number of faculty members (28 professors for 39), but also because of the rhthym of the research projects, the networks established between groups and the demands coming from the educational field. The profile of the egresses reveals that among the doctoral students, 62% of the employment relationships are linked to superior education and the rest is in Basic Education among others. Also noteworthy is the qualification of professors, technicians and administrators who act in the public teaching networks, around 70% of the doctoral and masters’ egresses. Therefore, the PPGE has represented an academic program aimed at educational research, with an emphasis on analysis and evaluation of policies, but also with a strong articulation with training processes for teachers in Superior Education and Basic Education, especially in the public teaching networks.
In 2016, the PPGE has 39 permanent and two visiting professors, distributed in the following manner: 15 permanent professors and 2 visiting professors within the line of research: Curriculum, Teaching and Language – 2 of whom only advise master’s students; 12 professors within the line of research: “Policies and Educational Institutions”, 3 of whom only advise master’s students; 6 professors within the line of research: “History, subjects and educational processes”, 1 of whom only advises masters students; 6 professors within the line of research: “Inclusion, Ethics and Interculturality”, 1 of whom only orients master’s students.
In 2016 this group participated and/or coordinated 94 projects (64 research projects, 15 interinstitutional, 15 involving activities of field work and extension) and was responsible, together with students and collaborators, for 312 intellectual productions (95 articles in journals, 94 books/ chapters of books, 107 works published in Congress Annals, 9 articles in magazines and 7 other types of publications).