Formação de professores a distância e os usos do território: demandas da Zona da Mata Mineira

Abstract

This thesis aimed to contribute to the discussion regarding the training of teachers for basic education, since our study object was the undergraduate courses offered online, in the region of Zona da Mata Mineira, from 2008 to 2018. The overall objectives of our research were i) to understand how the uses of the territory in the Zona da Mata Mineira occurred throughout the processes of expansion and internalization of distance learning undergraduate courses offer. In a more specific way, we sought to understand the context in which an online higher teacher training policy for basic education was institutionalized; ii) to systematize the data of supply and demand for undergraduate courses in general – and particularly in distance mode – in the region of Zona da Mata Mineira, from 2008 to 2018; iii) to understand the logic of supply-demand relationship regarding the offer of distance education courses in the Zona da Mata Mineira and iv) to understand through geographical analysis how the uses of territory occurred throughout the internalization process of distance learning undergraduate courses offer in the Zona da Mata Mineira. Thus, to think about those relationships, we started from the theoretical considerations of the Brazilian geographer Milton Santos concerning globalization, uses of the territory and technical density, and we relied on two main arguments: i) the idea that the expanding access to higher education usually contributes to an increase in technical density of places, and by the technique action, the space is remodeled and ii) the conditions under which the expansion of distance learning undergraduate courses occurred suggest that the relationship between State, market and territory was a socio-spatial condition for the offer of courses. We used data from the Censo Escolar (School Census) as a source of information on the demand, by grouping teachers according to the teacher training adequacy indexes. The information from the Censo da Educação Superior (Higher Education Census) was used as data about the offer of courses. Data analysis confirmed our hypothesis so that we can say that the expanding range of teacher training distance learning courses of private initiative and its territorial distribution in the region of Zona da Mata Mineira are the result of a demand not attended by the State. However, we concluded that this was not an arbitrary movement. In the region of Zona da Mata Mineira, the relationship between State, market and territory was a socio-spatial condition for the offer of courses. This determined and indicated the spatial selectivity of the expansion and uses of the territory.