Proposals for Teacher Training in the Face of the Challenge …
553
3 The Training of Teachers in the Scope of Higher
Education from the Transdisciplinary Approach
The predominant educational matrix based on unconstrained progress, individualism,
and competition needs to be reinvented so that it can contribute positively to the great
leap that humanity is being called upon to undertake. This raises the need for reflection
on the current circumstances of educational systems at the global and local levels
and the role of higher education in the context of the contemporary scenario.
Such a scenario points to the fact that education needs to be visionary, transformative and capable of instilling in the learning beings a new way of thinking, feeling
and acting on life, on the realities in which they are inserted. Instead of becoming
mere reproducers of a conduct that has proved unsustainable for the maintenance of
planetary life.
Thus, it is necessary to reflect on how education has been acting in the minds
and hearts of the learners and to what extent, in which aspects, it is contributing to
a broader understanding of realities—a crucial element to achieve as humanity, to
achieve success in the collective enterprise for planetary survival and evolution.
However, before touching the learners, it is necessary to find the educators, those
who act as mediators of the learning processes in the field of formal education.
These aspects lead us to reflect on teacher training programs focused only on the
epistemological and methodological elements of the intellectuals, as well as on the
relevance of considering in these formative processes the ontological bias, a dimension in which lies the possibility of evoking a more profound transformation—of
minds, hearts and actions—that can radiate.
It should be emphasized that within the transdisciplinary conception, such dimensions are forged in a single fabric in constant integration and feedback. However, for
didactic purposes they can be presented as follows:
(a) epistemological dimension—focused on the faculty of ‘Thinking’ and related
to the theorists (intellectuals and technicians) that base the teaching practice in
the various fields of knowledge and in the field of education in terms of teaching
and learning;
(b) ontological dimension—focused on the faculty of ‘Feeling’ and related to the
human development of the educator in the dimensions of relationship with himself, with others, with the world and with the transcendent. The aim is to produce meaningful learning with the aim of contributing to the educator’s ability,
in his/her educational practice and personal life, to present, as far as possible,
coherent and congruent attitudes between thinking, feeling and acting in the
perspective of a transdisciplinary approach.
(c) methodological dimension—focused on the ‘Acting’ faculty and related to
didactic processes in harmony with transdisciplinary education.
Moraes (2012) reminds us of the importance of having clarity in the educational
process of a transdisciplinary character regarding the connection existing between
the epistemological, methodological and ontological dimensions. Because,
553
3 The Training of Teachers in the Scope of Higher
Education from the Transdisciplinary Approach
The predominant educational matrix based on unconstrained progress, individualism,
and competition needs to be reinvented so that it can contribute positively to the great
leap that humanity is being called upon to undertake. This raises the need for reflection
on the current circumstances of educational systems at the global and local levels
and the role of higher education in the context of the contemporary scenario.
Such a scenario points to the fact that education needs to be visionary, transformative and capable of instilling in the learning beings a new way of thinking, feeling
and acting on life, on the realities in which they are inserted. Instead of becoming
mere reproducers of a conduct that has proved unsustainable for the maintenance of
planetary life.
Thus, it is necessary to reflect on how education has been acting in the minds
and hearts of the learners and to what extent, in which aspects, it is contributing to
a broader understanding of realities—a crucial element to achieve as humanity, to
achieve success in the collective enterprise for planetary survival and evolution.
However, before touching the learners, it is necessary to find the educators, those
who act as mediators of the learning processes in the field of formal education.
These aspects lead us to reflect on teacher training programs focused only on the
epistemological and methodological elements of the intellectuals, as well as on the
relevance of considering in these formative processes the ontological bias, a dimension in which lies the possibility of evoking a more profound transformation—of
minds, hearts and actions—that can radiate.
It should be emphasized that within the transdisciplinary conception, such dimensions are forged in a single fabric in constant integration and feedback. However, for
didactic purposes they can be presented as follows:
(a) epistemological dimension—focused on the faculty of ‘Thinking’ and related
to the theorists (intellectuals and technicians) that base the teaching practice in
the various fields of knowledge and in the field of education in terms of teaching
and learning;
(b) ontological dimension—focused on the faculty of ‘Feeling’ and related to the
human development of the educator in the dimensions of relationship with himself, with others, with the world and with the transcendent. The aim is to produce meaningful learning with the aim of contributing to the educator’s ability,
in his/her educational practice and personal life, to present, as far as possible,
coherent and congruent attitudes between thinking, feeling and acting in the
perspective of a transdisciplinary approach.
(c) methodological dimension—focused on the ‘Acting’ faculty and related to
didactic processes in harmony with transdisciplinary education.
Moraes (2012) reminds us of the importance of having clarity in the educational
process of a transdisciplinary character regarding the connection existing between
the epistemological, methodological and ontological dimensions. Because,