Espiritualidade e educação: a formação continuada e permanente do professor

Abstract

The thesis Spirituality and Education: the teacher's continuing and ongoing formation, submitted to the Graduate Program in Education at UCS/RS, within the research line History and Philosophy of Education, addresses the following research problem: considering that teacher education calls for intellectual, ethical, human, and social contributions, what contribution can spirituality, in dialogue with the Christian philosophical-theological tradition, make to a better understanding of this formative itinerarium? Along this path, the dialogue with Nóvoa and with the tradition of prudentia makes explicit the passage from knowing to responsible action, situating pedagogical decision as practical judgment. This is research of a theoretical nature aimed at conceptual investigation, and I structure the analysis through the lens of the itinerarium and of prudentia as applied to teacher education. As a general objective, I seek to develop a theoretical-analytical framework that addresses an analytical categorization between spirituality and education as an ethical and dialogical undertaking within the teaching itinerarium; and as specific objectives: a) to map, through analytical and investigative reading, traits of spirituality (orientation, search for meaning, interiority) and distinguish it from religiosity, situating it within the teaching itinerarium as a possibility of self-formation; b) to argue that spirituality, as a search for meaning and self-knowledge, enriches the itinerarium of teacher education, understanding the teacher as an epistemic subject; c) to articulate a theoretical-propositional framework relating resilience and prudentia to teacher education and professional practice, systematizing pedagogical decision as practical judgment. As theoretical support, among the principal authors for carrying out this investigation are Hildegard von Bingen (Scivias, 2015), Catherine of Siena (Dialogue, 2021), Teresa of Ávila (Interior Castle, 2022), and Thérèse of Lisieux (Story of a Soul, 2021), in whose works I interpret spirituality from the perspective of the itinerarium. As a contemporary author dealing with spirituality, I draw on Boff (2006, 2014); and as an author addressing teacher education, Nóvoa (2007, 2011, 2022), among other commentators. To address resilience, I draw on Cyrulnik (1993, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2022, 2025) and Sousa (2008, 2014, 2023). Starting from the analysis of Christian philosophy and the understanding of spirituality, I then establish relations concerning the possible contribution of spirituality to teacher education. I maintain that spirituality, understood as an anthropological-formative dimension, can contribute to processes of teacher resilience, insofar as it fosters meaning, interiority, and practical orientation in adverse contexts. This thesis does not propose a normative manual of teacher conduct, but rather a conceptual-interpretive analysis demonstrating that spirituality, understood as an anthropological-formative dimension, clarifies the formative itinerarium and practical judgment in teaching work by fostering meaning, interiority, and practical orientation. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]