Formação de enfermeiros docentes e seus conhecimentos pedagógicos

Abstract

The pedagogical training of nurse educators has become a relevant theme in the field of Nursing Education, especially considering that teaching is often not an initial career choice in these professionals’ trajectories. In this context, the research problem that guided this study was: what are nurse educators’ perceptions regarding their academic training and the development of pedagogical competencies for teaching in Nursing? The general objective was to analyze the process of pedagogical training of nurse educators and the pedagogical knowledge mobilized in teaching practice, considering their formative trajectories, professional experiences, and institutional contexts, from an interdisciplinary perspective that articulates education, health, and the human sciences. This is a descriptive-exploratory study with a qualitative approach, conducted in four educational institutions located in a municipality in northern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Data production occurred through the application of a structured questionnaire answered by 19 nurse educators and the conduction of structured interviews with six participants, selected according to the stages of the teaching career, based on Huberman’s professional life cycle model. Data obtained from the semi-structured questionnaire were analyzed through descriptive organization and qualitative interpretation of the responses, including the systematization of information and identification of thematic recurrences. Data from the structured interviews were subjected to thematic content analysis, according to Bardin’s framework. The results showed that teaching in Nursing is often constructed as an unplanned career path, marked by the centrality of clinical practice and by gaps in initial pedagogical training. It was observed that nurse educators’ pedagogical knowledge is predominantly developed through teaching practice itself, through experience, reflection on practice, and interaction with other educators, revealing initial insecurities, challenges in the construction of teaching identity, and individual coping strategies in the absence of systematic pedagogical training and continuous institutional support. It is concluded that the pedagogical training of nurse educators is configured as a progressive, situated, and interdisciplinary process, strongly conditioned by professional trajectories and institutional conditions, highlighting the need for teacher education policies that more consistently integrate pedagogical knowledge into Nursing education.