Initial training in the visual arts course of UFSM: the involvement of the trainees and the advisor

Abstract

This article is a text from a survey that was conducted by me between 2006 and 2007, regarding the process of organization and development of Curricular Traineeships in Degree Courses of the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), seeking to contribute with suggestions, allowances and parameters so that improvements can be made in the organization and development of Curricular Traineeships in Degree Courses. In this article, in particular, only the UFSM Bachelor of Visual Arts course is studied, seeking to characterize the process of organization and development of curricular traineeships from the "views" of the twenty-three (23) student trainees and the traineeship teacher advisor included in this course. As sources of information, questionnaires with open questions and discussion groups were used, together with trainee students, and a structured interview together with the traineeship teacher advisor. I noticed that the Course presents a workload of only a little more than as is dictated by the current legislation for the activities of the Traineeship Stage. Overall, all the student trainees had a good relationship with the traineeship teacher advisor, and were advised how to get their job placement in the school, were well received by the schools which have a tradition of welcoming them, considering their initial training as an important learning moment, and elected the disciplines of "Knowledge of specific content” as those which contributed most to the achievement in the traineeships. However, it reported that the schools have not accompanied them in the development stage and, in particular, showed no concern in assisting the trainees in their formation, which indicates that there are no interactive actions between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and the Schools of Basic Education (SBE) and are relatively compromised in the process of initial teacher formation.