Formação docente no Ensino Superior: acessibilidade e permanência de estudantes com deficiência visual

Abstract

The research assumes that the access and retention of students visually impairments are related to teaching practices, which need to be adapted to their needs. However, there is an urgent need to equip teachers, who, according to the literature, demonstrate a lack of appropriate knowledge about the needs and possibilities of students due to their deficient training in this regard. Thus, the research aimed to investigate how teacher training in Higher Education can enable the retention of students visually impairments in Higher Education Institutions. The specific objectives are to: (i) offer a teacher training course to support students visually impairments in higher education; (ii) analyze the student retention strategies adopted by teachers; (iii) investigate the teaching practices developed by teachers in higher education; and (iv) evaluate the effects of ongoing training focused on accessibility in the university context. Data collection occurred as an intervention and was guided by Universal Design for Learning - UDL, carried out remotely with the help of digital tools and included virtual meetings lasting 2 hours each, with a total workload of 40 hours. The meetings were recorded using Google Meet and transcribed with the Taqtic extension for later analysis. The collection utilized focus groups, reports of teaching experiences, an initial questionnaire, a diagnostic reflective activity, a lesson plan - UDL, a final questionnaire, and evaluation, in addition to the data triangulation technique. The analysis was made possible by the data collected from teacher training and used the technique of data triangulation and content analysis. Purposeful sampling was used, involving 30 higher education teachers working in Brazilian institutions. Among the participating teachers, about 74% work in federal institutions. Teachers from nine Brazilian states participated, with the only non-participating region being the South. The areas of expertise varied between: Human Sciences, Biological Sciences, Health, and Exact Sciences - more specifically, Engineering. During the meetings, it was possible to observe that the teachers expressed, in their speeches, concern about the current political-economic scenario, about teacher preparation, about the lack of accessibility in Higher Education Institutions, among other aspects. It is necessary to reaffirm that the retention of students visually impairments in Higher Education does not depend solely on compliance with legislation or the provision of technical accessibility resources, but is intrinsically linked to the critical and ongoing training of teachers, the adoption of inclusive pedagogical practices, and the transformation of the curricular and institutional structures of the university. In this sense, this research sought not only to describe an exclusive reality but, above all, to propose ways to overcome it, aligning with the ethical and political commitment to a Public Higher Education that is inclusive, equitable, and of high quality. It is expected that this research will contribute to enriching discussions on the subject and guide public policies aimed at training university teachers to support the retention of students visually impairments in university.