EVASÃO NO CURSO DE PEDAGOGIA DE UMA INSTITUIÇÃO DE EDUCAÇÃO SUPERIOR PRIVADA, EM IMPERATRIZ, MARANHÃO, NO PERÍODO DE 2014 A 2017

Abstract

The study on Evasion in the Pedagogy Course of a Private Higher Education Institution in Imperatriz, Maranhão in the period from 2014 to 2017 was carried out within the scope of the Professional Master’s in Regional Development of the University Center Alves Faria (UNIALFA), in the line of research on Public Policies and Regional Development. In recent years, the evasion of students in Higher Education Institutions has been a constant reality and the variables that influence this phenomenon, as well as the measures to be taken to avoid such a problem, have been a great challenge for educational managers, public policymakers and for society as a whole. The present study aims to evaluate the problem of the evasion of the students of the Pedagogy Course in a Private Higher Education Institution, in the city of Imperatriz-MA. Therefore, the Santa Terezinha School of Education (FEST) was adopted as a research field in order to identify the factors that contribute to the drop-out of its students before the end of the course. In the research, a quantitative approach is used, with a questionnaire applied to students who have been evaded in the period between 2014 and 2017, and qualitative, with a semistructured interview with the institution's managers. In addition, through a bibliographical research, a theoretical survey of the history of the Pedagogy Course and of the causes of student evasion of this course in the perspective of several authors is made. As a result, the research shows that among the reasons that lead students to evade are the disenchantment with the profession, the plastering of the curriculum and its direction to the classroom, indicating the need for a curricular matrix focused on the performance of the pedagogue in school and nonschool spaces. Evasion appears in this investigation as the result of several factors: some personal, some institutional and financial, and some cultural, such as those related in practice to the social devaluation of the activity of the educator and the educator. The research also points out actions that can contribute in a positive way to minimize the evasion of Pedagogy students of the Institution under study.