TEACHER TRAINING AND "GERONTAGOGY" IN TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAMS: THE CASE OF UFNT – FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN TOCANTINS

Abstract

This article aims to broaden and strengthen reflections on teacher training through the construction of positive social representations of old age and the aging process, emphasizing the need to consider education without age limits. Through this debate, we hope to critically problematize issues related to teacher training, the construction of a curriculum that takes into account the real profile of Brazilian society, and the challenge of strengthening democratic schools in the face of increasing life expectancy. The empirical investigation of undergraduate curricula involved a documentary study of the Pedagogical Project Courses (PPCs) of the Pedagogy, Physical Education, Rural Education, and Social Sciences courses at the Center for Education, Humanities and Health of UFNT, as well as a mapping of extension projects that, to some extent, contribute as an instituting practice of the policy of curricularizing extension. The results reveal that the projects and actions focused on human aging, developed at the university, have instigated interesting reflections, allowing us to affirm that the inclusion of this theme in undergraduate curricula has contributed significantly and primarily to the training of human resources in the state of Tocantins.