Análise sobre a atuação de coordenadores de curso de uma universidade pública

Abstract

This research is linked to the Graduate Program in Education of the University of Western São Paulo (UNOESTE), inserted in the line of research: "Public Policies in Education, Educational Practices and Diversity". The objective was to analyze how the course coordinators of a public university deal with their administrative tasks, articulating their perceptions with the discussions about management in the execution of their tasks related to the position they occupy. The research is characterized as exploratory and descriptive, and the approach chosen was qualitative. Fieldwork was carried out in a campus of a public university, located in a medium-sized city, in São Paulo state. The sample was set by convenience, and all coordinators of undergraduate courses of the campus were invited to participate in the research. Data collection was done through the conduction of semi-structured interviews. The content of the questions was grounded in the discussions on management of higher education and the experiences in the position. The interviews took place in the institution, that is, in the workplace of the interviewees, in a single meeting and individually. A digital recorder was used to record the speeches that emerged during the application of the technique. Then, all the collected data went through a transcription process. The content analysis technique was used to analyze the material. The results were organized from five themes, namely: 1) Definition of management; 2) Motivating aspects to perform the function of coordinator; 3) Absence of continuous training spaces; 4) Frustrations and difficulties; 5) and, finally, the tacit and explicit knowledge used by the coordinators to carry out the administrative functions. The present work enabled the construction of discussions and reflections on the performance of the coordinator of the undergraduate course, based on his own perspectives, and the research provided an opportunity to express his difficulties and desires. Far from exhausting the discussions on the subject, this dissertation opens new research questions, certainly relevant to contribute with the work condition of the coordinators, that must be recognized for their indispensability in the management of public universities.