Encontros com jovens : a escolha pelo curso de pedagogia e o sentido de tornar-se professor

Abstract

This study discusses the trajectories of young students who seek higher education, particularly degrees in Education, obtained from two different institutions in Rio Claro-SP, Brazil: a public, state-funded university (São Paulo State University “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” - UNESP) and a private institution (Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Educação de Rio Claro - ASSER). The aim of this study relies on investigating which are the reasons that take students to aim at higher education degrees, on knowing their education trajectories, and the aspects involving their choice for the Education field and for the possibility of becoming schoolteachers. From the empirical point-of-view, the study methodology involved an assessment tool with closed-ended questions – a survey – which aimed to deal with a large sampling of subjects. These questions were analyzed in order to provide basis for a qualitative look into the theme and the subjects. Such analysis enabled obtaining data from another assessment tool, with open-ended questions – now applied as interviews – which helped to comprehend the uniquenesses of these people’s universe. One hundred and two (102) students took the closed- and open-ended surveys, including both the university and the college students. Among them, 15 were selected for and accepted to be interviewed. The surveyed students comprised freshmen and senior undergraduate Education students from both the aforementioned institutions, selected in order to provide insight on how the seek for an Education degree starts and evolves, thus contextualizing this notion concerning the education scope. From data, the investigated students were recognized as belonging to what can be identified as urban working class groups. These students usually did not pick Education as their first choices, but have found themselves touched by its social appeal during the course. Further, in spite of not perceiving the teaching carrier as properly valued by society, they ethically committed themselves to become real agents of social (and their own personal) change as schoolteachers in Brazil. This study revealed that, for these young people, achieving a graduate degree means significant social mobility within the limited range of possibilities which are made available for them, as a consequence of the social inequality reality established in Brazil. Such working class groups’ students seek in their choices a better future, and see the teaching carrier as a chance to make a difference in other people’s lives, and as a way to find both personal and professional fulfillment.