Inovação pedagógica na educação superior e as suas múltiplas facetas

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the conceptions and practices of pedagogical innovation in Brazilian Higher Education, combining a historical perspective with empirical investigation. It is linked to the research line of History and Philosophy of Education of the Graduate Program in Education at the University of Caxias do Sul. The guiding research problem is: how have Higher Education policies, researchers, and institutional managers conceived and implemented pedagogical innovation in Brazil? Using a qualitative approach grounded in Oral History and Documentary Analysis, the study examined key regulatory documents, the National Guidelines and Bases of Education Law (LDB), the National Higher Education Evaluation System (SINAES), and the Innovation Law, through a systematic process of unitarization, categorization, and interpretation (Moraes, 1999; 2003; Bacellar, 2011). In-depth interviews with researchers and managers from institutions of distinct administrative natures (public, private, and community) were analyzed following oral history procedures (Alberti, 2005; 2023; Thompson, 1992; Portelli, 1997; Meihy, 2005). The findings reveal four constitutive facets of pedagogical innovation: Facet 1 - Epistemological-paradigmatic, grounded in Kuhn (2013), Bachelard (1938), Santos (2005; 2008), Morin (2011), and Cunha (2000; 2006); Facet 2 - Curricular transformation, based on Freire (1996), Nóvoa (2001), Santomé (1998), Bernstein (1996), and Sacristán (2000); Facet 3 - Contextual humanism, supported by Biesta (2010) and Freire (1987; 1996); and Facet 4 - Profitability and market, aligned with Christensen (1997), Porter (1985), Schumpeter (1942), Bourdieu (2004), and Drucker (1993). The research sustains the thesis that pedagogical innovation in Brazilian Higher Education is marked by the coexistence of these facets in permanent tension, expressing distinct and frequently antagonistic projects of university and society, whose resolution requires that Higher Education institutions intentionally and collectively assume emancipatory ethical-political horizons as the foundation for genuinely transformative pedagogical practices. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]