Ética e formação inicial dos educadores sociais
: o caso português

  • Renata Liliana Monteiro dos Santos Machado (Student)

Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an investigation on "Ethics and Initial Training of Social Educators - the Portuguese case", carried out within the scope of the doctoral programme in Education Sciences, and was elaborated with articles, in accordance with the Regulations of FEP/UCP. Therefore, it is organised into three parts, each one of them referring to a submitted and/or published article, concerning, respectively, three moments of our study. Social Education corresponds to an area of knowledge and action within the epistemological field of Social Pedagogy, as a science of education related to lifelong learning processes, developed within a perspective of social inclusion and solidarity (Carvalho & Baptista, 2004). Within this pedagogical-educational field, Social Education is defined by the specialised priority intervention to vulnerable people and human groups, carried out by duly qualified professionals, the social educators. In other words, we are facing particularly demanding training and professional qualification needs, where ethical issues occupy a primordial place. In this context, we wanted to understand what is the place of Ethics in the initial training of Portuguese social educators, based on the mapping of Higher Education institutions, with a training offer in the area of Social Education. To answer this central study question, we opted for a process of bibliographic review based on three essential theoretical nuclei, Social Pedagogy-Social Education and educational ethics, resorting mainly to the thought of national authors, adopting a triadic vision of ethics, simultaneously teleological, deontological and pragmatic. Also in this context, we proceeded to the historical and normative contextualisation regarding initial training in Social Education in our country. From the empirical point of view, we opted for a development strategy framed by a qualitative approach, resorting to document consultation and direct enquiries of actors, made through a focused discussion group. This strategy allowed us to respond to three fundamental operational objectives, referring to the three dimensions of ethics considered, the first being on the place of Ethics in the curricula of the 1st study cycle in Social Education, the second on the ethical-deontological heritage of Portuguese social educators, based on the mapped institutions and scientific-professional communities of reference, the third on the perceptions of the social educators themselves in relation to their ethical training. Thus, as explained in the first chapter/article, we found that, in general, ethical training is included in the study plans, although with different curricular importance. In conceptual terms, this training is aligned with the theoretical conceptions favoured by national authors, showing a humanistic, relational matrix and oriented towards the development of applied ethical skills. With regard to the ethical-deontological heritage and with specific regard to the scientific-professional communities, it was possible to identify and analyse explicit documents of practical regulation. The same did not happen at the institutional level, as shown above. In general terms, it was concluded that the existing heritage is rich and diversified, but still not very consistent, evidencing processes under development. Regarding the perception of the actors, we could understand that social educators recognize and value the importance of ethical issues in their professional life, claiming a training closer to their practices. The cross analysis of these main conclusions, allowed us to reinforce our initial position on the importance of ethical training for social educators, as an integral and substantive part of their professional identity, and as such it should occupy a relevant place in the study plans of initial training, developed in close connection with the contexts of practice and with consequent programmes of continuous training.
Date of Award15 Jan 2024
Original languagePortuguese
Awarding Institution
  • Universidade Católica Portuguesa
SupervisorIsabel Baptista (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Social pedagogy
  • Social education
  • Initial training
  • Ethic training
  • Social educators

Designation

  • Doutoramento em Ciências da Educação

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