O núcleo docente estruturante (nde) como guardião e alma do curso de pedagogia: a necessidade de um ethos formativo para a formação de professores

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the Núcleo Docente Estruturante (NDE – Structuring Teaching Nucleus) of Pedagogy programs, focusing on six (6) campuses of the State University of Piauí (UESPI). The study sought to answer the following question: How do the discursive practices circulating within the NDEs of UESPI’s Pedagogy programs operate in the constitution and functioning of these nuclei for the development, consolidation, and qualification of the programs? To conduct this investigation, the Foucauldian perspective of discourse analysis and selected principles from Stephen Ball’s theory of enactment were employed, along with contributions from other scholars in teacher education. The empirical corpus comprised meeting minutes, Pedagogical Project of the Course (PPC), resolutions, and additional institutional documents.The findings revealed both compliance with legal regulations and regulatory deviations, evidenced through counter-conducts developed in some campuses. The investigation was guided by the following questions: In what ways do the decisions enacted by the NDEs shape the constitution and functioning of Pedagogy programs? How are legislation and regulatory frameworks mobilized within these nuclei to produce organizational and qualification processes? Do the NDEs’ decisions reveal propositional elements that create new possibilities for curricular and formative organization? The analyses were organized into three axes: (1) Constitution of the NDE, which discusses the structural and functional conditions of the nuclei and the absence of a distinct formative ethos; (2) NDE action in the qualification of programs, which problematizes the meanings of qualification and the tensions between legal requirements and pedagogical foundations; and (3) Modes of conduct and “regulatory deviations”, which examine resistance practices and counter-conducts that challenge normativity and produce displacements. In this context, the concepts of critique and the exercise of thought proved essential to understanding the formative ethos as a fundamental element, enabling the NDE to function as a space for formation rather than merely for regulatory compliance. Based on the analyses, the following Thesis is defended: The NDEs of Pedagogy programs, when assuming their role as guardians, are capable of establishing discursive practices oriented by a formative ethos and shifting away from a merely normative function to become spaces of critique and invention of new meanings for teacher education, thus configuring themselves as the “soul of the program.” More than ensuring legal compliance, the nucleus assumes responsibility for promoting teacher education by articulating pedagogical knowledge and strategies aimed at the continuous qualification of the programs. To this end, it becomes essential to cultivate a culture of belonging and quality, in which artesania represents the expression of careful, well-crafted work. At the same time, the NDE must consolidate itself as a space of critical reflection, capable of surpassing mere regulatory adequacy and fostering innovation and improvement in Pedagogy teacher education programs.