The School of Education of the State University of Campinas has a historical landmark in the defense of public education and, throughout its history, has reaffirmed this as a right for all and a duty of the State. Since the creation of the School in 1972, the teaching staff has transcended the confines of the classroom and has worked coherently in social movements, public agencies, and specialized associations to democratize quality education for the entire population. At the moment, it is pursuing this guideline, aiming to expand access to public universities for basic education professionals, establishing a professional master's degree program, with a view to a possible transformation of the school reality. To this end, it sought to collectively build, with the entire academic community, the principles that would govern a differentiated program that, nevertheless, would contemplate the academic and scientific rigor that characterizes the production of this School. These actions resulted in the creation of an internal committee in 2013 to focus on surveying legislation, ongoing experiences, studies, etc., in order to qualify the internal debate and begin the construction of a proposal for a Professional Master's Program in School Education (MP). In this first step, two internal seminars were held: the first, held in September 2013, provided a forum for reflection and observation regarding: the relevance of implementing a master's program of this nature, given that regional and national demands are intense at the School of Education; the need to further define the principles that will govern stricto sensu graduate studies in this modality; and, finally, the urgency of building a Professional Master's program independent of the current graduate programs at the School of Education (PPGE and PECIM). The second, in 2014, focused on projects funded by the FAPESP Public Education Program, which have been developed in recent years by PPGE faculty members.
However, the debates on those occasions did not result in a definition of a proposal to be submitted to CAPES in 2014. The movement also pointed to the essential need for the local academic community to mature the concept of the Professional Master's Degree. Thus, new activities were organized to achieve this objective, such as meetings with coordinators of other programs, with a view to sharing the challenges faced in implementing the MP. Thus, in 2015, this set of actions resulted in a first version of the project that was appreciated by the collective of professors and other segments of the Faculty.
The Master's Program in School Education at the Faculty of Education at UNICAMP is in line with Normative Ordinance 17 of the Ministry of Education, dated December 28, 2009:
I – the training of personnel for advanced and transformative professional practice of applied procedures and processes, through the incorporation of the scientific method, enabling the professional to work in technical-scientific and innovation activities; II – the training of qualified professionals through the appropriation and application of knowledge based on methodological rigor and scientific foundations; III – the permanent incorporation and updating of advances in science and technology, as well as the training to apply them, focusing on management, technical-scientific production in applied research and the proposition of technological innovations and improvements to solve specific problems (2009, s/p).
Course Objectives:
● Promote the continuity of training processes for teachers and managers of Basic Education, preferably in public education networks;
● Prioritize academic production in the dialogue between school and university routines, focusing on the organization of pedagogical work, content and teaching processes, management, and public policies to enhance and contribute to the production/transformation of knowledge and school practices;
● Train professionals in their specific area of work, on theoretical and practical bases of management, learning, teaching, school culture, inclusion in schools, active and creative educational technologies, etc.;
● Encourage the training of professional teachers qualified to develop technical-scientific activities and work on topics of public interest for school education.