This paper describes reflections on research results and discusses concerns regarding the theme of Teacher Education. It focuses particularly on those relations that determine innovation, namely, the elements or factors that bring about rupture and that therefore eliminate mere reproduction within the undergraduate courses (Licenciatura) that, in Brazil, train teachers in universities. The article is based on the assumption that it is necessary to understand the relations that make innovation possible, so that criticism of the reproductive character of teaching may be transformed into a contagious search for improvement. Relying on the ideas set forth by Boaventura Santos, it takes as its reference the conception of knowledge within contemporary paradigmatic transition. The study involved the undergraduate courses designed to train teachers (Licenciatura) at a public university in the south of Brazil and, based on student choices, tried to analyze the significant experiences they pointed out, in their configurations. To this end, it also had the participation of the professors who were the key players in the processes that took place.
Higher education; faculty member; learning; teaching