Certification of pedagogical knowledge in vocational education: building a pilot project

Abstract

Throughout their classroom experience and by sharing knowledge in their community, vocational education teachers develop their own work-related skills. This study proposes an evaluation of pedagogical knowledge and its certification, based on the Brazilian legislation on educational guidelines, the principles of the CERTIFIC Network and the work of authors who propose valuing this technique and the knowledge acquired through it. It is coherent to recognize the possibility of validating the knowledge of those who educate workers, knowledge built during their own professional activities. Through bibliographical research about the epistemological and legal bases of vocational education, combined with the analysis of current vocational teacher education programs as well as a review of the certification of pedagogical knowledge programs in several countries, this experience report covers the elaboration of a pilot project for the assessment and certification of teacher’s pedagogical knowledge at the Catarinense Federal Institute (IFC) and the Santa Catarina Federal Institute (IFSC). This project could also be applied to federal vocational education as a whole, and to any vocational education program employing teachers who have been active for ten years or more.