Notes on research on teacher education: contributions to the debate

This paper makes an analysis of studies, investigations and discussions by research groups that focus on teacher education. Since the 1980s, are analyzed on the research on teacher education mapping trends and issues regarding the methodology of research priorities as well as indicating the configuration of the area, considering theses, papers and papers presented at events. In this article are considered the collective productions such as symposiums, seminars and states of knowledge about the research in teacher education indicated convergences, showing recurrence notes on the discussion of research on the topic.


Introduction
The debate on the research about teachers' formation causes a constant concern from researchers of the area, which is expressed in Symposiums, meetings, articles, theses and papers.One of the findings about the research on education in Brazil, which was made by Gouveia in 1971, takes in consideration the studies developed by the Regional's Research Center linked to INEP/MEC, and a study by the author herself.
There are studies about the teachers and teaching professionals characterization in that finding, related to the qualification level, social-economical conditions, functional position and teachers' expectations.In a study conducted in 1976, Gouveia checks the communication achieved in SPBC Congresses, the researches financed by INEP, and the article published in the Research Books of Carlos Chagas Foundation.There wasn't any relevance given in the researches about teachers' formation.
In another published article by the Research Books in that same decade about the priorities of the education research made by Franco and Goldberg (1976), shows a set of 41 studies about the teachers' behaviors associated to the teaching results.The authors mention the lack of investigations over the situation of the teachers' training, emphasizing the need to approach the matter.They highlight the social relevance of those researches and in the examination of researches registered at INEP from 1968 to 1973, the teachers' formation and professorship corresponded to 8 studies (3.83%), highlighting that he concern with the teachers' formation has a very important place for a long time.
Besides that, in quantity terms, it is undeniable the significant research amount about teachers' formation produced every year on defended theses and papers in education graduate programs in Brazil.That number is constantly increasing.In 1987 there were 11 papers of 108 defended works in education, and in 2011 of the 5,451 defended theses and papers in education, there were 687, around 12.6% of the total amount focused on teachers' formation.The table 1 attached, presents the yearly total number of the theses and dissertation over the subject, and the percentage related to education.This table was made analyzing the available data in CAPES theses bank, by filtering the exact term in subject area using the terms education, teachers' formation, yearly selection from 1987 to 20111 , and complements the other ones which were already published (ANDRÉ, 2002;BRZEZINSKI, 2006;ROMANOWSKI, 2002;) 2 .
The I and II Symposiums of Research Groups about Teachers' Formation held in 2006 and 2011 respectively, express the involvement of countless research groups in the field.Still, from 2000 to 2010, INEP retook the incentive and the research promotion, as well as the seminars over specific matters, such as the teachers' formation and the support to researches on the subject which were published and that can be accessed in the website of the mentioned institution.
That article covers those studies and specific events about teachers' formation made by groups of researches, collective productions with the objective of highlighting the focuses approach show convergences, recurrences, and gaps.The studies performed by Marcelo (1999); Roldão (2006Roldão ( , 2007Roldão ( , 2009)), André (1999André ( , 2000André ( , 2009André ( , 2010)); Brzezinski (2001Brzezinski ( , 2002Brzezinski ( , 2009)); Jardilino (2011), among other discuss the definitions and Field configuration of teachers' formation.If that perspective is taken in consideration, this text discusses the recurrent indicators in collective studies related to the teachers' formation approach with the objective of contributing with debates around the subject taken as temporary.

Symposiums and seminars on research groups about teachers' formation
The I and II Symposiums of Research Groups about Teachers' Formation held by the GT 08 Teachers' Formation of ANPEd, from 2006 to 2011, had the objective of favoring the collective expression of researches in the teachers' formation field.The discussions plan developed in each of those events allowed key elements of thematic tendencies which are objects of research focused in each group to be inferred; the predominant research methodology allowing to see and follow the movement of the camp of formation, even though it is not included the participation of all research groups which take teachers' formation3 as the subject.
The I Research Groups Symposium about teachers' formation which took place at PUCSP had 120 researchers, representing 70 Research Groups.The assessment abstracts of that symposium made by Ludke, Misukami and Roldão (2011) take three fundamental elements in consideration: (I) research formation; (II) priorities of research in teachers' formation; (III) the definition of the field of teachers' formation.
Related to the research formation, the debate highlights the need of a better explicitation of the investigation matter and its contextualization, the referencials that circumstantiates it, choice of methodology that allows to consider the field where it is situated, as well as an interpretative analysis by favoring the inferrement of the consequent theoretical indicatives as Ludke (2011, p. 3) says.Added to all there are the sources and tools to collect that information, characterizing the building of data and most of all, the interpretation and the consequent technical elaborations.
Among the priorities to be investigated, there are the teacher formation for physical education, the Professional development for teaching, the pedagogical formation of the teacher, the formation evaluation, the valorization of the partnership between researchers and teachers contributing to the solutions of school problems and to the formation of the researcher teacher.
The definition of the Field research in teachers' formation, taking in consideration the theoretical nature of knowledge and its epistemology in a second level of deepening the meta-analysis, the meta-investigation that analyzes the research itself, and a third level that would be the relation between investigation logic and the logic of political decisions have a diverse nature of the levels to be consolidated.Decisions about political actions programs situate the bases on investigations.Those investigations do not express the determinants which bring into being them.Roldão (2009) specifically defines the structuring components, when composes the field of teachers' formation.He considers the building processes of knowledge and Professional performance, the learning of profession, as well as the knowledge of the school and teaching.He also includes the formation assessment regarding the curriculums and programs of the course.He shows as adjacent fields of knowledge which the teachers' formation is based on: the curriculum, the didactics, the professional and organizational cultures; and as convergent fields, the ones about teachers' conceptions and professional pathways, as well as a field close to the fields of knowledge production related with formation and to formation in other fields.The analysis of the groups' relevance to the fields goes beyond the space of the discussion held in the symposium, since it requires a bigger deepening, which makes a field definition impossible in this space.
Related to the II Symposium held at PUCPR in 2011, the main objectives were to analyze along with the research groups of the movement where the investigation over the teachers' formation is situated, the Field understanding by indicating the investigative tendencies; favoring the interaction among the groups, contributing to the creation of field research nets in order to spread the research linkage with primary and higher education.At that symposium, the texts were previously sent by the research groups and there were intense debates among the groups.33 groups from several Brazilian regions took part of the symposium.The final abstract was made by André, Brzezinski, Ludke, Roldão (2011, p. 6), which shows a different consolidation rhythm among the groups, which were in pathway building to advance in research in the teachers' formation field.They show recurrent weak points related to density on analysis and research communication.The need to have a strict methodology and referentials, as well as the interpretations that were made remain a challenge.Nevertheless, to the authors, the groups are possibilities of "genuine spaces to researchers' formation by having the collective confrontation of methodological matters, which are really complex but can be overcome with group study and the building of temporary agreement" to much more than the current determinants of fast production.
One second matter refers to the research Field of teachers' formation in that groups sample, which is expressed in a net of subjects and several approaches.Even though some tendencies may be identified, "it is clear the impossibility of making a field outlining at this historical moment" (ANDRÉ, BRZEZINSKI, LUDKE, ROLDÃO, 2012, p. 8).It is important to emphasize the global object proposition of research Field "process of study the building, development and knowledge deepening and necessary competencies to practice of teaching, its impacts and results" (id.)where some problematizer elements that involve the modalities and types of formation, the resulting programs in their curriculum components, knowledges and processes, students in formation, trainers, supervisors and assessment of that formation, as well as the institutions in which they are carried out.
The seminars held by INEP focused on the teacher formation for higher education.The first one resulted on the publishing "Teacher of Higher education: identity, teaching and formation" organized by Morosini (2000).The texts discuss the higher education teacher, his identity, formation and teaching.It highlights that the scientific production about this subject has been characterized by few studies, and when they are even conducted, they are interrupted and discuss isolated cases.The texts show the higher education teacher as an intellectual whose formation happens with teaching, research and extension courses.The formation of a higher education teacher comes from a self-formation process after the teaching practice and less from a systematic and theoretical formation process.
Taking this perspective, the higher education teacher is part of a knowledge community where by development research as a practice, he inserts his formation in this practice, in teaching practice and in the community where he belongs.Higher education goes beyond the teaching practice, as it implicates in formation for the research, even though it is supposed to include pedagogical formation.That formation mediated by practice, reflection, research and studies which include pedagogical knowledges presented by specific disciplines in some of the post-graduation programs and by some institutional formation programs is an indicator present in the texts.
A second seminar gathered the debates in the publishing "The production on teaching in higher education" organized by Ristoff and Sevegnani (2006).Among the notes, there is the practice on methodological perspective reinforcing as necessary a pedagogical formation carried out in continued education to be proposed and developed by higher education institutions.Besides that, the questions related to the identity and professionalization of the higher education teacher have been part of the debate.
In this seminar, the emphasis on the teaching practice was centralized in teaching.The texts which discuss specifically the formation written by Pachane (2006) and the second one by Borba, Ferri, Hostins (2006) converge to this continued education based on two aspects, the evaluation of literature about teaching in higher education and the analysis of programs developed in higher education institutions.In conclusive argumentations, the referrals to overcome formation which is centralized technical aspects of teaching for a critical and understanding formation of the contributions of university to society are reinforced.

Studies on the researches in teachers' formation
In the 1990s, studies on state of art started were initiated in several areas of knowledge, including the ones conducted under the coordination of André (2002) and Brzezinski (2006), both connected to GT 08 Teachers' formation of ANPEd and published by INEP.
Teachers' formation in Brazil (1990Brazil ( -1998) ) organized by André (2002) discusses the study conducted by 3 groups: (I) analysis of the abstracts of 284 papers and theses defended in post-graduation programs in education of the country, between 1990 and 1996; (II) another one about 115 articles published in 10 national magazines, (III) and the third group, 70 scientific works presented in Work Group (GT) Teachers' Formation of ANPEd between 1990 and 1998.In those groups, the analyzed thematic categories were Initial Formation, Continued Formation, Identity and Teaching Professionalization.
In the initial formation category, the works focus on teachers' training school, bachelor courses in different areas and pedagogy.In theses and dissertation, the subjects on studies discuss organization, knowledges, methodologies and practices developed in the courses; in continued formation, there are programs and practices conducted and in identity and teaching professionalization, which was an emerging subject by the end of the decade.The subjects are the debates about the Professional identity of the teacher, the relation between the teacher and the cultural practices, career matters, professional and union organization and related issues.Even though, the mapping made by this group was focused on the abstracts, a study developed along with Romanowski (2002) a set of 39 complete works, theses and papers, as well as the participation of members of the groups in boards of examiners which brought guiding indications in the developed analyses elaboration.
The evaluation of 115 published articles highlights that the subject of continued formation is discussed more often, which took the group to get deeper discussions about that category.In this study, recurrent subjects are showed such as: concept of continued formation, programs and practices, highlighting the use of technologies and social development.Singular studies include the policies for that formation.Most of notes in the texts promote the articulation need between theory and practice, and consider the pedagogical work as a fundamental core of that relation.However, the resulting articles of researches show some lack of articulation among training institutions and primary education and between theory and practice.
The third group took as a study object the analysis of presented works during yearly meetings of ANPEd from 1992 to 1998.The main subjects discussed in these texts were mainly initial formation, followed by continued formation, mostly teachers' formation to primary education and less often, identity and teaching professionalization.
In the set of studies, the definition of object in teachers' formation focuses on the initial and continued formation.Among the investigated aspects are courses, theoretical and practical discipline organization, students and teachers performances are prevailing.When there are alterations on the courses organization as there was at CEFAM in the state of São Paulo, in the subsequent years there are investigations which involve those amendments.It implies in showing a close relation between public policies and the definition of the subject to be investigated.The same happens between the professional practice of researcher and the choice of research subject in which the start point of problematization are situations of that professional practice as indicates Romanowski (2002).
The methodology of qualitative approach investigation is recurrent by prioritizing local studies, of a course, a discipline, the procedures are based on interviews, questionnaires, documents analysis and experience reports.It means that both opinions and representations are the foundation of the analyses sources, which implies in restricted analyses.(ANDRÈ, 2000) The study coordinated by Brzezinski (2006) with the involvement of several researchers about the post-graduation program in education considers the theses and papers about the formation of education professionals after the new demands of teaching formation generated by National Educational Bases and Guidelines Law (Law nº 9.394), active since 12.20.1996.In this research, it was considered the period between 1997 and 2002 with a sample of papers and theses defended in 23 programs, corresponding to 46% of all the 50 institutions.The mapping took as a reference the abstracts written by the research participants after the reading of works, without taking in consideration the original abstract.The categories of analysis include teaching conceptions and teachers' formation; policies and propositions of teachers' formation, initial formation, continued formation; teaching work; identity and teaching professionalization; literature review.
The initial formation presents a significant number of investigations, including the courses evaluation of the high school courses, teaching-degree school, Teaching-Degree Centers (CEFAM).Studies on the new configuration on degrees considering the National Educational Bases and Guidelines Law, investigations focusing on evening courses, distance learning with the use of information and communication technologies (TIC) and the improvement of computer use as a didactics resource developed in Professional career with a smaller incidence, specific studies about teacher formation for pre-school, education of teenagers and adults and for inclusive and rural education.
The continued formation was a target for investment of educational policies in continued education programs involving a significant number of primary school teachers.They have been developed by State and Municipal Secretary of Education, by the Union and partnerships between the training centers and Secretaries of Education.There were also projects about collaborative nature research focused on school, producing several investigations about those programs, according to Brzezinski (2006).
Some investigations include the teacher formation to higher education, but there aren't studies on teacher formation to technological courses.This formation was also subject of a dissertation in 1998, which discusses the specific graduation degree in professional formation.
The focus on fundaments of practical reasoning, the formation by practical reflection in school space, the combination of teaching knowledge and the school as a formation space overcoming the concept of recycling of previous decades is highlighted in studies.The mapping includes the teaching work category focused on practice, teacher knowledges as well as career and professionalization, which has countless theses and papers.
The study on the teachers' formation to technological education was developed by GT Teachers' Formation to Professional and Technological Education connected to SETEC.In order to have the study conducted; meetings have been made to define an agenda for a proposal of a degree intended to teachers' formation to this area.The article organized by Machado (2008) gathers the summary of the discussions, including the transcript, course proposal, specificities of teachers' formation to Professional education and general issues about curricular organization to professional education.Even though this study does not discuss particularly the research on the subject, it expresses the discussions and debates collectively carried out about teachers' formation to this system of studies, and considers as necessary the initial formation to be conducted in specific degree courses.
Yet, studies promoted by INEP discussing the teacher formation to primary education are summarized in the productions "Higher Education: teacher formation X demand on primary and Indian education.
One of those studies presents results of National System for Evaluating Primary Education (SAEB), which analyzes the intra and extra factors of school that interact with school performance of students in primary education.A second aspect analyzes the pedagogical conceptions that surface from school practice and adds as a third aspect, the verification of higher education expansion, as well as courses to teachers' formation for primary education.It is highlighted in the study, the Professional development of teachers by taking as a reference the extended formation in courses, experiences, cultural context, career, and work conditions.It is a kind of formation made up beyond the mastery of scientific contents.(CATRIB, GOMES, GONÇALVES, 2008) The study adds some data related to the continued formation, highlighting that the teachers evaluate as positive the programs and courses, which consolidates the teaching learning.Basically, it is the gathering of several quantitative indicators about the primary, continued formations, conditions of Professional practice based on degree, gender, working hours.It finishes by crediting the contributing possibilities of university reform to cause social changes having as perspective, the promotion of national development and reinforces the image of the teacher as "a professional Who is able to understand and treat in a proper way the results that express work quality of school", which formation should be focused on the usability of the learning from the teachers in school practice having quality as a consequence.One of the notes that run through this study is the ways to control the teaching practice by evaluating the students in macro level, with implications to a teacher formation which promote results improvement.Would that put the teacher formation as an improved results formation?
About the teachers' formation to Indian education, it is published an issue of "Em Aberto".The texts present Experiences and Challenges on Indian Teachers' Formation in Brazil.The publishing gathers the results of projects about Indian Teachers' Formation in progress in different regions of the country, "a new model in which Indians who are part of their own communities are chosen by them to graduate and teach in Indian schools" (GRIPIONI, 2003).The author keeps discussing about the rupture of "pattern of education which is guided by catechizing and/or civilizatory intentions".
It highlights the micro experiences as a reference for macro programs, so there is the recognition of a specificity of formation that considers the diversity by itself.All of that brings to debate, the experiences that serve to diversification to the very specific Indian demands.Considering that perspective, countless unique experiences projects were analyzed.The study even has a mapping of theses and papers production in Indian education in Brazil defended between 1978 and 2002.It synthesizes the references and abstracts of analyzed works, which shows a teacher formation that considers the specificity of Indian education.

Notes regarding the research on teachers' formation
Among the referrals expressed on the analyzed debates, meetings, and studies, the teachers' formation reassert as an area in progress, even though it is not poorly defined.Marcelo (1999, p.22) establishes as criteria to define one discipline, the conceptual perspective that refers to the existence of theoretical principles that guide the discipline, and the syntactic perspective that refers to investigation methodology on specific problems.It has as a result, investigations and publications in which the "teachers' formation obtains its own substantivity" (MARCELO, 1999, p.24).This way the teachers' formation can be considered as a disciplinary matrix due to the fact it has its own object of study, methodologies and analysis models, a community of scientists Who Express their investigations through its own communication code and the demonstration of interest by politicians, and administrators over the matter.Those criteria are reaffirmed by André (2010).
André (2010) points out events and journals which discuss the teachers' formation besides the GT 08 Teachers' Formation of ANPEd.Events such as Endipe, Regional Meetings of Anped, include as a specific subject the teachers' formation for over a decade.
Besides that, the creation of the magazine Teachers' Formation (2009) expresses the significant contribution to the debate systematization in the area.Book publishing with the title "Teachers' formation" are Constant in different publishers.A recent tendering procedure to the position in the discipline Teachers' Formation, disciplines offers and seminars, research line in post-graduation programs are indicators of the change of Teachers' Formation condition from subject and investigation matter to disciplinary Field.
A second note refers to recurrent matters in the last two decades focused on the investigated set of studies and collective debates.There is a significant number of researches on the primary and continued formation, identity and professionalization as an object of study.The approaches investigate the necessary knowledges to teaching practice and processes of how the formation happens.Would the formation steps be parts of a discipline?Would the knowledges, techniques, objectives be objects to evaluate the teachers' formation?Would the formation practices be a start point to the perspectives of formation theorization?
A third note on studies conducted by groups of researchers and that were consulted to have this article written about subjects like how teenagers and adults, Indian and Professional education, even though they are not specific studies about teachers' formation reassure the primary, continued and professional education as inherent from formation.In each one of those systems and specificities of education, the configuration of teacher formation refers to the understanding of the singular nature of each one of those systems.The teacher formation takes singular and specific characteristics according to the practice performed in each one of those teaching systems.That specialization can cause dispersion and weakening of formation Field, which may be reduced to the understanding of the education system, but have excluded the taking of the educational phenomenon as a whole and in its fundamental principles.That way some questions are a consequence: Is the teachers' formation process determined by the educational system it's intended to?Does the formation confine itself to the understanding of specific contents and teaching methodologies of each one of the systems in which the teacher works?Would we have a specific teacher formation, therefore specialized, to childhood education?To primary education?To higher education and so on?
The evaluated seminars about the teacher formation of higher education show as the recurrent points, the lack of a pedagogical formation and when it is taken, it is more focused on a didactics formation of the teachers of that teaching level.It is pointed out that one of the debates considers the researcher formation as a component to that Professional.This points reinforces as a note, implications between the formation and the teaching system to which the teacher intendeds to work on.
In the research groups' symposiums seem that the focus on the teaching of specific knowledge areas of professional performance of teachers is predominant, so the study of teaching methodologies and the learning of specific contents, of the curriculum are some of the most investigated subjects.The process of formation itself is not taken in consideration.The teachers' formation is understood as linked to the area of knowledge; therefore, it reassures the study of primary education contents, and its didactics as relevant to teaching as a sufficiency condition to teaching.Those knowledges are adjacent to formation.(ROLDÃO, 2007(ROLDÃO, , 2009)).Even though, the teacher formation do not restrict itself to those components.A deeper study along with the research groups on teachers' formation is necessary and urgent, since according to André, Brzesinki, Ludke and Roldão (2011) the symposium expresses "some limiting tendencies to teachers' formation, although once more, it was observed the exclusion of a field formulation".
It is possible to highlight the study presented by Jardilino (2011), as a work requested by Gt 08 Teachers' Formation in the 34th ANPEd Meeting, which had André, Passos, Hobold, Duran.It concludes that the GT8 during its existence has debated and gathering knowledge over its scientific Field, specifically on what is researched about Teachers' Formation in Brazil, which allows recognizing that there is a set of consistent notes about the field.Many of those disagreements in this group focused on the week aspects of the research itself, not about the subject indefinition.
Considering the limits in which this text was written, it is possible to see in the set of studies, the concepts and principles of formation, formative processes, conceptual instructions, and steps of the professional development of teachers.Vital cycles of the profession showed by Marcelo (1999) are little evaluated and investigated in our area, limiting the investigation to the organization of courses and knowledge evaluation without having the theoretical field of formation consolidated by the examination of practices, even if they have been intensely researched.
Historically, would we have a wide and dense Field of formative practices, which would be possible to systematize the theory?That presented matter is added to the several notes about the field of teachers' formation.It highlights that this text expresses temporary notes, possible to have new reflections.

Table 1 -
Number of theses and papers on education and teachers' formation by year -1987 to 2011

Table 1 -
Number of theses and papers on education and teachers' formation by year -1987 to 2011