O ensino de sexualidade em um curso de licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas: desafios e possibilidades na formação docente na UFSCar – Campus Araras

Abstract

Sexuality, as a constitutive dimension of human experience, permeates educational processes, influencing school relationships, identity construction, and pedagogical practices. Despite its relevance, topics related to sexuality, gender, and diversity remain secondary or absent in teacher education, including undergraduate programs in Biological Sciences, where, when present, approaches restricted to the biological field predominate. This absence in the teacher education certificate highlights a mismatch between the demands of a democratic, critical, and inclusive education and the content addressed in teacher education programs. In this context, this dissertation aims to investigate wheter and how topics related to sexuality are present in the program curriculum of the Teaching's Degree in Biological Sciences at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Araras campus. The study adopts a qualitative approach, characterized as documentary research, developed through the analysis of the Course Pedagogical Project (CPP), the curriculum matrix, and the course syllabi of 49 compulsory and 16 elective courses. The units of analysis investigated were the terms “sex,” “man,” “male,” “woman,” “female,” and “gender” searched for both in the CPP and in the course syllabi. Data analysis was carried out through systematic content categorization procedures, from which three analytical categories were constructed a posteriori: Does not address, Only mentions, and Addresses in depth.The results indicate a predominance of the Does not address category, observed in 43 compulsory and 12 elective courses. Among the compulsory courses, mentions were identified in Genetics, Philosophy and Sociology of Education, Basic Microbiology, Vertebrate Zoology, and Psychology of Adolescence and Psychosocial Problems, the latter being the only one classified under the Addresses in depth category. Among the elective subjects, Ecotoxicology and History and Epistemology of Science stand out, classified as Only mentions, while Dialogical Feminism showed the highest recurrence of the analyzed registration units and was classified as Addresses in-depth. Overall, the identified occurrences are sporadic and poorly articulated with broader educational objectives, reinforcing the predominance of a biologizing perspective on sexuality, even though there are curricular spaces with potential for more critical and integrated approaches. Finally, the study contributes to the debate on science teacher education by highlighting the need for possible program curriculum restructuring that promotes pedagogical practices committed to human rights, equity, and respect for diversity.