A formação do arquivista para mediação da informação: relação entre currículos e práticas docentes

Abstract

The study presented analyzed, based on the curricula and teaching practices in higher education institutions in Brazil, the archivist's formative process focused on the information mediation, in which the aim is to highlight the profile of this professional to deal with the production and access to archival information, the relationship between user versus archival information and informational devices. In order to reach the general objective of this research, some specific objectives were formulated, namely: survey and characterize the undergraduate courses in archival science currently operating in Brazil; survey and describe the curricular components that focus in their contents the information mediation in archival courses; investigate the understanding of coordinators, professors and students of the archival courses studied about the formation of the archivist, with regard to the curriculum (theory and teaching practice) and information mediation; to map the profile of professors and students of archival courses at the higher education institutions studied; and, to delineate confluences between the levels of relevance given to the contents of information mediation in the formation of the brazilian archivist, considering the prescribed and practiced curriculum of the higher education institutions studied. Thus, applied research was adopted, at a descriptive level, characterized in terms of procedures as documentary research, referring to field research as multiple cases, as it deals with brazilian archival courses. Among the data collection techniques, are highlighted the indirect systematic observation, interview and application of an electronic questionnaire, using content analysis that, due to the complexity of the phenomenon, enabled the production of results, in a qualitative and quantitative. The results showed five archival courses, located in the south and southeast of the country, which have specific curricular components that deal with mediation in archives, demonstrating that the theme is gradually inserted in the archival context. The traditionalist conception was observed coexisting with the critical conception, favoring discussions about the graduate's profile to assume a mediating role, focused on the dialogic learning process, critical reflection, social commitment. There was a reasonable gap between the prescribed curriculum and teaching practice, noting that the theoretical and practical foundations of information mediation are approached in an incipient way, associated with cultural action, heritage education, reference service, uses and users and archival diffusion, making it difficult for future archivists to mediate consciously. In conducting the content, it was inferred the effort of teachers to contemplate the dimensions of mediation, emphasizing the dialogic and ethical; and there is an attempt to encourage protagonism, promoting simulated practices, with participatory teaching techniques and formative assessments. The study highlights a need to reformulate the competences of the National Curriculum Guidelines in the area, with a view to consolidating the contents and practices aimed at meeting the informational needs of users and the appropriation of information as a central element; assign parameters for teaching information mediation; and strengthen the relationship with education, in order to prepare professionals who can guarantee services and products for contemporary society and enable learning situations.