Banca de DEFESA: ELAÍNE CRISTINA DOS SANTOS

Uma banca de DEFESA de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : ELAÍNE CRISTINA DOS SANTOS
DATE: 29/09/2026
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: videoconferência
TITLE:

Rural Education in Motion: An Assessment of Teachers' Perceptions Regarding the Training Provided by the Escola da Terra Program in the Southern Coast of Rio Grande do Norte

KEY WORDS:

Rural Education; Teacher Training; Public Policy; Territory; Escola da Terra Program.

PAGES: 241
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Sociologia
SUBÁREA: Sociologia Rural
SUMMARY:

This thesis analyzes the effects of the *Escola da Terra* (School of the Earth) Program—implemented by the Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN), Canguaretama Campus, during the 2023–2024 edition—on the pedagogical practices and conceptual understanding of eighteen educators (course participants and municipal tutors) working in rural schools in Canguaretama, Goianinha, and Pedro Velho, located on the southern coast of the state of Rio Grande do Norte. Grounded in the understanding of Rural Education (*Educação do Campo*) as a territorialized public policy linked to the historical struggles of the peasantry, the research examines the extent to which, and under what institutional mediations, the program's continuing education initiatives brought about shifts in the participants' teaching practices and educational conceptions. The investigation confirms four guiding premises: the program transformed the educators' understanding of Rural Education; the integration of these concepts into pedagogical practice is mediated by concrete institutional and structural conditions; the policy's institutionalization varies unevenly across municipalities; and teacher training is a strategic—though insufficient—condition, requiring alignment with educational management, material conditions, and institutional continuity. Data interpretation draws on cognitive analysis of public policy—which treats Rural Education as a sectoral framework competing with the hegemonic view of the "rural school" as an impoverished version of the urban school—while situating the participants, tutors, the *Novo Pronacampo* territorial agent, and the program's state coordination team. It also employs document analysis of municipal resolutions—examined via Bardin’s (2016) Content Analysis—as mediators of this dispute. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative approach, utilizing semi-structured interviews with the research subjects, organized into analytical categories. The results reveal a nearly unanimous shift in the participants' professional development and tangible changes in pedagogical practice, yet highlight an asymmetry across levels: the closer the connection to the school, the greater the appropriation of the framework. The closer the proximity to municipal and state administration, the greater the institutional fragility, with a lack of coordination between the Department of Education and schools being the most recurring finding. Institutionalization varies across municipalities, ranging from actual school closures in Pedro Velho and threats of closure in Caguaretama to persistent fragility in Goianinha, even following formal regulatory progress.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Externa à Instituição - GIOVANA GOMES ALBINO - IFRN
Interna - 1715135 - JOANA TEREZA VAZ DE MOURA
Externo à Instituição - JONATHAN ALVES MARTINS - UFRJ
Externa à Instituição - KIZE ARACHELLI DE LIRA SILVA - UFERSA
Presidente - 3180158 - WINIFRED KNOX