Didactic and pedagogical training of professors of legal education: analyzing the perceptions of professors regarding the teaching internship experienced within the scope of stricto sensu postgraduate Law programs

Abstract

The didactic and pedagogical training of Law professors presents a challenge for the field. In accordance with Article 66 of the National Education Guidelines and Framework Law (Leis de Diretrizes de Bases da Educação Nacional – LDB), this training process is, predominantly, the responsibility of master's and doctoral programs. However, the focus of these programs is research, with few strategies directed to a pedagogical training, being one among them, teaching internships. Therefore, our inquiry is: How those egressing Law master's and doctoral programs have perceived the didactic and pedagogical training offered in the teaching internship and, consequently, its repercussions for the training of professors of legal education? The intent is to characterize the perceptions and reveal the context which Law professors constructed in relation to the teaching internship experienced during their training in Law master's and doctoral courses, in order to discuss the didactic and pedagogical training of legal education professors. Bibliographic and field research, content and qualitative data analysis were the methodological routes of the investigation. Data were collected through interviews conducted with 90 professors, who are graduates of Law master's or doctoral degrees in the State of Paraná, between 2017 to 2020. Ultimately, the notion of the internship as a bureaucratic and formal stage (31%) or as space for representations of models and anti-models (18%) were the most prevalent. It was also verified the concept of teaching internships as a critical and transforming process of the teaching practice and an intentional formative step (9%).