Some challenges and demands of initial teacher training in contemporary times

Abstract

This article discusses some of the contemporary challenges and demands of initial teacher education in Brazil, focusing on aspects of the current National Curriculum Guidelines for teacher education (Resolution 2/2015 of the National Conference on Education, NCE), which require adjustments in curricula for undergraduate courses. Considerations and analytical reflections were developed in conjunction with the recent process of reformulating undergraduate courses’ pedagogical projects at the Universidade Federal de Rondônia, and are based on authors in teacher training and other related fields. We discuss recurrent aspects in research on initial teacher education, demonstrating that, although there are legal frameworks, which have required that undergraduate courses be updated, there is still no guarantee that certain challenges will be overcome just from updating the curriculum. Due to current sociopolitical transformations in progress in the country, new demands and challenges must be considered in initial training. Furthermore, there should be an agreement between the normative forecast of legal regulations and existing practices in undergraduate courses.