Nearly everything of the little we know about the produced knowledge reaches us through the means of information and communication. These, on their turn, also build world images. Images to delight, entertain, and sell, suggesting what we should dress, eat, look like and think. In our contemporary society, it is discussed the need for a visual alphabetization that takes on several names, such as image reading and critical understanding of the visual culture. Frequent changes in expressions and concepts hamper the understanding of these proposals for school curriculum, as well as the definition of the teacher who will be in charge for this knowledge and its theoretical frame of reference. This article presents the concepts that justify proposals of image reading and visual culture, signaling their closeness and distances. It also compares some theoretical backgrounds related to anthropology, art, education, history and sociology, suggesting lines of work within learning environments, so that we can reflect about our permanent training as teachers.
MASS MEDIA; EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE; ART; CULTURE