PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION IN PSYCHOLOGY: CURRICULUM ANALYSIS OF TRAINING PROGRAMS IN BRAZIL

Abstract

Professional training in Psychology in Brazil has been widely studied and discussed in academic settings, long before its institutionalization in universities and faculties. Faced with the scarcity of critical studies about national higher education, this study aims to examine professional training in psychology as a consequence of the peculiar constitution of higher education in Brazil, aiming at its critical characterization with a comparative approach. Through a multiple case study, we sought to analyze the Psychology training at the undergraduate level (as it is in Brazil). The main results point to the existence of an anachronistic teaching-learning process framework, not consistent with the ontological specificities of Psychology and away from expectations about the role of tertiary education in the formation of professionals as critical and concerned citizens. It is proposed, therefore, that training in Psychology must be reviewed in all dimensions, from its normative frameworks to the types of curricular components. A necessary revision of the curricular architecture is advised, replacing the traditional linear arrangement for a cycle regimen. Thus, the initial training would be seated on a propaedeutic stage, complemented in a second stage that would provide structural contents of the psychological field and would enable the use of psychological instruments and techniques essential to the professional practice in any context. Finally, an effective professionalization would happen in a third cycle of specialized training, according to areas of expertise and practice or theoretical and methodological guidelines, in residency programs and/or in professional masters or doctorates.