Changes that have occurred over the past few years in society due to the availability of information sources, globalization, use of technology, demands of the labor market, and the public health policies valid in the country, reflected in a reexamination of the dynamics in the learning process, creating the need of a new look for the training of health professionals. Currently, the physical therapist is expected to develop other skills and competencies that go beyond technical and specific knowledge, such as critical thinking, communication, management, the ability to solve problems, to be innovative, to ensure the full look to health care and to work as a team. In this context, professionals need to recognize environments in which they are inserted (social and professional) to work effectively, meeting the population's need and applying knowledge through evidence-based practice.
The current scenario of the profession makes us reflect on how the physical therapist' formation in Brazil is. Despite the needs faced by physical therapists, the teaching-learning process has emphasized the acquisition of technical skills, but not understanding, problems' analysis and application of knowledge based on studies of greater evidence. These teaching models adopted mix influences from the evolution of higher education in Brazil. Among the legacies, we observed the hierarchization of the education, resumes organized by disciplines, the teacher being the keeper of knowledge and transmitter of the predefined content, fragmented education, knowledge given as ready and immutable, disarticulation with reality and inability to apply the knowledge on the complexity of a real situation.
The practice of teaching known as "banking education" considers that the student is void of knowledge having the teacher as the responsible for the learning through the transmition of knowledge. This model encourages superficial knowledge developing skills such as the habit of taking notes and memorising, passivity and the lack of reflective attitude, "respect" to the information sources, distance between previous knowledge as well as between theory and practice, lack of reality's problematization and adoption of models ready and prepared in other regions, besides individualism and lack of participation and cooperation.
The teaching-learning process cannot be seen in a linear fashion, in which the knowledge acquired is added over the years. The complexity of teaching and learning must be considered because it involves the affective and cognitive dimensions, and that is why the methodologies of learning - in which the student shares with the teacher the responsibility and commitment to the process - have been conducive to a meaningful learning and to the development of non-cognitive skills.
The formation of physical therapists should not fixate only on developing specific skills, but in building a critical professional who, through a reconstructive process, is capable of assigning new meanings and constructions. This way, an environment that stimulates discussion and critical thinking is probably more favorable to promote the intellectual maturity required. During their training, the students need to reflect about all aspects of their learning experience, including those that are not in a curriculum or specific discipline. It is essential that the teaching-learning process transpose the physical barriers of classrooms, considering and recognizing the different areas within science, the praxis inserted in different geopolitical, social and cultural contexts, as well as humankind's multiple realities, both in the individual and collective aspect.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
Oct-Dec 2015
