Permanent training of university teachers in Catalonia and Sao Paulo: dilemmas and challenges

Abstract

            Considering the challenges posed by globalization processes and the pressures for instrumentalization of university teachers training in favor of educational reform, this article proposes to reflect on the dilemmas and challenges of university teacher permanent education policy in some public universities of Catalonia (Spain) and Sao Paulo State (Brazil), from the analysis of training initiatives proposed by training sectors installed in these institutions. Beginning with a critical approach and understanding the complexity of the comparison of educational policies in the globalization context, we used a mixed methodology, based on documental analysis, interviews, questionnaires and focus groups. The result analysis allowed us to identify that university teachers training in both contexts face common dilemmas such as the contradictory relationship between training and precariousness, since teachers demands have been increased, leading to a casualization of the profession and, at the same time, programs for permanent teachers education have been institutionalized; another dilemma refers to unequal recognition of research and teaching, even though the latter is being increasingly considered a strategic element for the consolidation of the changes in higher education.