Continuing education for the education of Ethnic Relations: reports from UNIAFRO-UFRPE students

Abstract

In the present work, we analyzed the importance of continuing education promoted at the university, through the specialization course “Policy of Racial Equality in the School Environment”, for the configuration of the pedagogical practice of course participants. We applied electronic questionnaires with 38 professors who completed the specialization course offered by RENAFORM / UFRPE. We observed that the referred course has contributed to the reflection about the teachers' practice. In the view of course participants, there is a close relationship between the training that the teacher experiences at the university and the planning that he builds for his classroom practice. However, some point out that the racial issue in initial training is still poorly addressed, therefore, they emphasize the importance of the approach to the education of ethnic-racial relations in the continuing education of teachers, and the implementation of anti-racist educational practices, both in school and in in society. Thus, despite the challenges, we found possibilities to experience through this policy, a space for training and reflection that favors the (re) configuration of the professionality of the basic education teacher.   Keywords: education of ethnic-racial relations; continuing teacher education.