This article points out the importance of pedagogy as the specific realm within the university for the development of educational studies and educators´ professional training. From then on, it addresses the national curricular guidelines which have been lately defined by the National Council of Education for the Pedagogy Course. To that end, after considering the historical and theoretical emergence of the pedagogy concept, it identifies the theory-practice relationship as the fundamental problem from which the two main pedagogical currents arise ending up in a dilemma and feeding the polemic character of pedagogy. Against this background, the paper analyzes the place education occupies within the Brazilian university, where Pedagogy plays a major role. Finally, it briefly examines the national curricular guidelines revealing a paradoxical situation: the document is at the same time extremely limited and too extensive; it is very limited in the essentials and too extensive in the accessories. Considering this finding, the work is concluded by proposing a possible way around the paradox.
PEDAGOGY; TEACHER EDUCATION; EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS; HISTORY OF EDUCATION