Abstract
In Brazil, in 2018, the federal government proposed the creation of a new public education policy, the Pedagogical Residence program, as one of the actions that integrate the National Teacher Training Policy. The primary function of the Pedagogical Residence program is to support Higher Education Institutions in the implementation of innovative projects that stimulate the articulation between theory and practice in undergraduate courses managed in conjunction with public basic education networks. This paper aims to analyze the possibilities of articulation between art and human formation based on van Gogh's proposal for the formation of a Studio of the South, as inspiration for the performance/training of teachers within the Brazilian Pedagogical Residency program. As a methodological mechanism we used bibliographic and documental of works related to van Gogh's biography and letters exchanged between the painter and his associates, as well as texts by researchers in the field of teacher training and teacher artists. The article is divided in two parts: the first provides a brief description of Vincent van Gogh's life, focusing on his proposal to train artists in a creative atelier, the Studio of the South. The second component of the text presents some aspects of the relationship between art and teacher training, aiming to list arguments around the formation of teachers based on the van Goghian idea.
Keywords
Introduction
The present paper introduces an investigation that correlates a documentary analysis on the biography of the artist Vincent van Gogh and the academic literature; this research presents itself almost as an essay that conjures up the relevance of the art of teaching as more than a metaphor. The text goes through the fields of documentary research on the letters exchanged by van Gogh among his contemporaries in the 19th century, including a literature review on teacher training and teacher know-how.
The point of view addressed in the paper seeks to reestablish the art and craft of teaching. This thought is the north of the compass that indicates a passage through the grass of public policies in education. Specifically, it is a research on the current context of Brazil, with regard to a policy of teacher training recently implemented, called Pedagogical Residence. This paper aims to examine the potential of articulation between art and human formation based on van Gogh's proposal for the formation of a Studio of the South, as inspiration for the performance/training of teachers within the Brazilian Pedagogical Residency program.
In Brazil, research on the final stages of initial teacher training and early teaching career indicates the relevance of this period (Feitosa and Leite, 2011, 2012). It is at this moment that novice educators are exposed to an assortment of conflicts triggered by new professional endeavors, disputes ranging from issues related to classroom practice, allocation in educational institutions, indiscipline and conflicts with school management and their teachers. It is during this same period that many novice teachers end up turning away from teaching and/or giving up the profession.
In addition to the structural issues arising from the Brazilian school environment, educational systems and financial aspects unattractive to the professional, a determining factor for understanding the aspects related to conflicts at the beginning of their careers is initial training. The latter has been criticized for its conceptual, content focus and mnemonic predominance, often not linked to the future educator's field of action (Eisner, 1984; Feitosa and Leite, 2012). In the Brazilian context, a consequence of this proposition is the fact that, when they begin to work, novices feel compelled to do it without any institutional reception, learning their craft through practical experience.
In Brazil, the Federal Government proposed the creation of a new educational public policy, a national program to strengthen teacher education and, at the same time, to develop actions in public schools (Silva, 2019). This initiative is the Pedagogical Residence program, instituted by Ordinance No. 38, of 28 February 2018 (Brazil, 2018). Such a program is one of the actions that integrate the National Teacher Training Policy. According to this legal document, the Pedagogical Residence program's primary function is to “[…] support Higher Education Institutions in the implementation of innovative projects that stimulate the articulation between theory and practice in undergraduate courses […]” (Brazil, 2018: art. 1st, item I) managed in conjunction with public basic education networks.
This public policy is inspired by Medical Residency Training, but with modifications (Silva, 2019). Traditionally, at Medical Residency the focus is on formative training for novice doctors who already have their undergraduate degrees. On the other hand, in the Pedagogical Residency, the target public of the actions are students of undergraduate and/or initial teacher training courses, that is, those undergraduate students who may benefit from the experiences obtained within the program as a professional internship within the curricula of their graduation.
Within the Pedagogical Residence program, there are four functions, delimited as follows. (a) Resident: undergraduate students who have attended at least 50% of the course or who are attending the fifth period or higher. (b) Institutional Coordinator: Professor of a Higher Education Institution (University, College or Faculty) responsible for the project within the institution. (c) Advisor Teacher: educator who guides the internship of the residents, articulating the objectives of the program to the undergraduate course. (d) Preceptor: teacher of the school that accompanies the residents in the field. The four functions indicated above work organically within schools in supervised internship situations.
The program, launched in 2018 in Brazil, proposes the participation of its participants in a period of 18 months of operation, in which residents develop a workload of 440 hours of activities within schools. In 2018, the Pedagogical Residency program had about 35,000 paid members and has a budget of about R$250 million (U$60 million).
The Brazilian Pedagogical Residency program was criticized for its emphasis on the practice of school work, making room for an exclusion of pedagogical theory related to teaching action. Such a perspective fragments the theory and practice unit and places emphasis on practice as a utilitarian conception of teacher education (Silva, 2019). We endorse this critical line and think that it is relevant to indicate a theoretical–practical path that contributes to the groups of members of the Brazilian Pedagogical Residence. Thus, we understand the importance of discussing the contributions of van Gogh's ideas on the theme of artist training and hope to draw a parallel with teacher education.
Some programs of similar operation to the Brazilian one have been object of study in other countries. As a robust example of this, Williamson and Hodder (2015) described a North American experience, set in San Francisco, in which an urban teacher residency program strives to strengthen the connections between the fieldwork and the coursework of novice teachers through clinical instructional rounds within and across the educational settings in an urban school district. The findings suggest that experience facilitates their learning of diverse teaching practices, and develops an appreciation of diverse students’ strengths across contexts. However, the North American experience is geared to teachers of the educational network already trained in teacher training courses, and its members are a minimum of three years after graduation in the clinical instructional rounds.
Another example that can be found is the Boston Teacher Residency, described by Papay at al. (2012). Such a program is a pioneering practice-based preparation program in which candidates work in conjunction with a mentor teacher for a year before becoming a teacher of record in Boston public schools. According to the research results, the improvement in the student achievement program in public schools was only modest over the long run.
Guha et al. (2017: 32) analyzed the literature on the subject, and they indicated that “[…] the first teacher residency program was created in Chicago in 2001.” Since this pioneering experience, several others have emerged over the last few years. Inspired by the medical residency model, teacher residencies provide a pathway to teacher certification “[…] grounded in deep clinical training tailored to the unique needs and assets of the participating school district” (Guha et al., 2017: 32).
Going in the same direction, Klein et al. (2013) describe a collaborative endeavor between the Newark Montclair Urban Teacher Residency, New Jersey public schools and Montclair State University. In this program, residents serve a one-year clinical apprenticeship under the tutelage of an experienced co-teacher in a high-needs district school. The authors of the research reflect that urban teacher residency should be used for learning other teacher education policies “[…] one that underscores the importance of constantly reviewing and developing both guiding and operational principles” (Klein et al., 2013: 28).
Looking at the research done in the USA (Guha et al., 2017; Klein et al., 2013; Papay at al., 2012; Williamson and Hodder, 2015), we note that the researchers indicate a teaching residence that begins after the end of future teacher education after graduation from University or College. The Brazilian experience is different from the American one, because in Brazil the residence occurs during the period when the student still attends his University. The contact of the future teacher with the Brazilian public school within the Pedagogical Residence takes place earlier than in the USA.
In Argentina, in South America, the residence for beginning teachers still in university education was studied by Viscaíno (2008). The results indicate that the residency was important for the professional development of the novice educators involved, expanding the knowledge of the initial formation, such as personal biography (family and school) and professional socialization.
In the Brazilian context, in the transition from student life to the more demanding life of teaching work, a period linked to supervised practice, there is an initial confrontation marked by the encounter with the harsh and complex reality of professional practice, as well as the disenchantment and disillusionment of the initial moments of teaching. Because of an initial education focused on daily school life, in which the student studies based on “ideal types” of schools and students, many novice teachers end up giving up teaching in the early years of their professional experience. Contact with the future educator's field of work is predominantly restricted to supervised practice periods. Moreover, it is exactly in this relevant period of training that the Pedagogical Residency program operates.
The Brazilian Federal Government itself recognized this detachment between theory and practice as a limitation within teacher education centers (Brazil, 2015). In this sense, the governmental authorities of the country indicate that the theory–practice relationship must permeate all these teaching formative activities, which must be articulated with the essential objective of training the four-year undergraduate course educator. This theory–practice correlation is a continuous movement between the “know-how” and its implementation, in the search for meanings that permeate the initial formation of teachers in Brazilian Higher Education Institutions, their management and the administration and resolution of their own situations in the school education environment.
At this point, we can make a comparison with the field of artists (painters, musicians, dancers, etc.), in which practical action is performed alongside their theoretical field, and both influence each other (Feitosa and Leite, 2011, 2012). In the formation of artists, there is no practice without theory, just as there is no theory without practice. A painting student, for example, when entering a course in his area or an atelier, will be in touch with the practical action of painting and, concomitantly, will learn about the technical and historical aspects that originated in the main schools of his field (the so-called “art theory”). Someone who enrolls in a music course and wants to learn a musical instrument also follows the same line: they will play their instrument daily, as well as learn about musical scores and the languages of their field.
This relationship of praxiological proximity between practice and theory, which occurs along the lines of artistic formation, seems to be an interesting perspective one can take to think about the educator's work that is more linked to the daily aspects of teaching, but without neglecting his concern with the contributions of the fields of teaching education (Booth, 2003; Daichendt, 2009; Thornton, 2005). Furthermore, this artistic inspiration may include both the initial education of future teachers as well as the continuing education of teachers in active exercise of their duties in educational institutions (Eisner, 1984, 2002, 2004).
The famous painter Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) was a proponent of a peculiar form of artist training. He proposed the creation of a creative atelier in which artists would reside and work in their art, as well as administratively and financially manage the space. This proposal was titled Studio of the South (Bailey, 2016).
Given this, the questions that will be the generating motto of the following text arise: Is there the possibility of teacher education in the mold of artistic formation? Could van Gogh's proposal for the formation of a Studio of the South serve as inspiration for the performance/training of teachers within the Brazilian Pedagogical Residency program?
To answer these questions, we use as a methodological mechanism the bibliographic research of works related to the theme of van Gogh's biography (Bailey, 2016; Barresi, 2018; Correa, 2014; Hughes, 2005; Murphy, 2016) and letters exchanged between the painter and his associates (Gauguin, 1888a, 1888b, 1996, 1997; van Gogh, 1882, 1888a, 1888b, 2015), as well as texts by researchers in the field of art-education or teaching training (Booth, 2003; Daichendt, 2009; Eisner, 1984, 2002, 2004; Feitosa and Leite, 2011, 2012; Thornton, 2005).
We conducted a research literature review following Fink's (2019) propositions. We started from a search for related bibliographic and documentary material of the researched theme, especially about the questions above. We then took a deep reading of this material and searched for their interconnections. Thus, our research literature review also followed that indicated by Meth and Williams (2006) when we searched bibliographic documents about the artist Vincent van Gogh.
As an exposition of the results of this research literature review, a kind of bibliographic and documentary research, this article, which often resembles an essay, will be divided in two parts: the first brings a brief description of Vincent van Gogh's life, focusing on his proposal to train artists in a creative atelier, the Studio of the South (Bailey, 2016). In the second component of the text we present some aspects of the relationship between art and science, aiming to list arguments around the formation of teachers based on the van Goghian dossier.
Part 1: van Gogh's proposal – training artists within a creative atelier
Vincent van Gogh (Zundert, Netherlands, 1853–Auvers-sur-Oise, France, 1890), a painter born in the Brabant village of Zundert, in the south of the Netherlands, was known worldwide for his artistic expressiveness, with canvases full of vivid and intense colors, recurrent use of lines, strong brush strokes, use of impasto and a great artistic originality (Hauser, 1972). Van Gogh can be allocated within the expressionist or post-impressionist movement, that is, the artistic movement through which authors expressed emotions and feelings through their works, emerging with a focus on subjective aspects (Kultermann, 1993). The European painter produced over 2000 pieces of work during his 37 years of life, including around 860 oil paintings.
Vincent van Gogh began to study in his youth, under the religious influence of his pastor father Theodorus van Gogh (Kultermann, 1993). However, at the age of 15, he quit school to work with an art dealer in the Dutch city of The Hague, as indicated by his uncle Cent. He transferred to the company's branch office in London. Some time later, van Gogh would leave his job. After living in the English capital and in Paris, he went to Amsterdam, where he studied Theology and, for some time, worked as a pastor, approaching religious affairs with intensity (Hauser, 1972).
When he was about 20 years old, Vincent van Gogh decided to pursue a career as a painter and traveled to Brussels, Belgium, where he began his theoretical studies about painting. In 1886, van Gogh moved to Paris and came across works of impressionist painters, a group of artists who influenced his art (and who were influenced by him). Before that, he used to paint pictures with darker hues, but later he used pure primary and secondary colors in his pictures (Hauser, 1999). His works began to include lightness.
In February of 1888, van Gogh voyaged to Arles in the south of France to escape the frenzied atmosphere of impellent Paris. In a letter dated 3 October 1888, addressed to his confrere in the art of painting, Paul Gauguin, van Gogh describes this move to the Provence Alpes Blue Coast region. My dear Gauguin, […] In any event, when I left Paris very, very upset, quite ill and almost an alcoholic through overdoing it, while my strength was abandoning me — then I withdrew into myself, and without daring to hope yet. At present, dimly on the horizon, here it comes to me nevertheless — hope — that intermittent hope that has sometimes consoled me in my lonely life […]. I believe that if from now on you began to think of yourself as the head of this studio, which we’ll attempt to make a refuge for several people, little by little, bit by bit, as our unremitting work provides us with the means to bring the thing to completion — I believe that then you’ll feel relatively consoled for your present misfortunes of penury and illness, considering that we’re probably giving our lives for a generation of painters that will survive for many years to come. (van Gogh, 1888a)
The main feature of van Gogh's proposition, which is relevant to note, is formation and artistic work with a collective work character (van Gogh, 2015). For example, Vincent van Gogh proposed an artistic formation in partnership. In one of his letters to his brother Theo, dated 31 December 1882 and Tuesday, 2 January 1883, the painter stated: […] I imagined that the painters here would form a sort of circle or society in which warmth and open-heartedness and a certain unity would prevail. To me, this was in the nature of things, and I did not know that it could be different. I would not like to give up these ideas that I had when I came here, even if I had to modify them and make a distinction between what is and what could be. […] For in the old, smoke-stained, dark studios there was an intimacy and something real that was infinitely better than what’s threatening to take its place. (van Gogh, 1882, italics in original)
In the van Goghian proposition, the studio would be a place that would host painters interested in sharing the profession, living within a cohabiting inn. Such communal projection in the form of a studio would be financially based on the artists' own work. Van Gogh (2015) indicated that participating artists would have a solution to improve their lives by joining together, donating their paintings to the association and sharing the value of sales so that the collective of artists would guarantee – at least – the possibility of existence and work for its members.
In addition to the economic and organizational aspects of the painters' collective work, van Gogh (2015: 451, free translation) glimpsed aspects in his fellow workers that were related to the mutual and formative development of each member, in his words “[…] what comforts us is not having to run with our thoughts and ideas themselves, but collaborating and working with a group.”
In one of the letters to his brother, Theo, Vincent van Gogh alludes to a conversation he had with Paul Gauguin, which served to idealize the perspective of collective formation within an artist association. He [Gauguin] says that when sailors have to move a heavy load, or weigh anchor, so as to be able to lift a very heavy weight, and to make a huge effort, they all sing together to keep them up to the mark and give them vim. That is just what artists lack! (van Gogh, 1888c)
In short, we can imply that such a proposal of artistic formation within a studio shared by painters went beyond the merely technical aspects of the art. The van Goghian idea included a clear indication of the work within the studio, as well as postulating sharing one's life within a lodging, that is, the studio building itself would serve as a dormitory. Thus, it would be possible to share not only the financial values raised through the sale of the paintings produced by their craft companions, but also to expand their artistic perception through educational activities within the studio. I also know that I very much hope to stick to my argument of the past winter, when we talked about an association of artists. Not that I still have a great desire or hope to bring it about, but as it was a serious argument, we have to retain our seriousness and retain the right to come back to it, to this question. If Gauguin weren’t to come to work with me, then I have no other resources to balance my expenses but my work. (van Gogh, 1888d)
A fragment of Paul Gauguin's self-mutilation incident on van Gogh is another clear reference to the idea of a collective studio proposed by the Dutch painter: Readers of the Mercure may have noticed in a letter of Vincent´s, published a few years ago, the insistence with which he tried to get me go to Arles to found an atelier after an idea of his own, of which I was to be the director. (Gauguin, 1996: 7) […] As far as accommodation goes; apart from yours, Laval and Bernard could have a small furnished room nearby. I like the way you picture your dream house and its arrangement, and my mouth is watering to see it. (Gauguin, 1888a) […] Our pal Bernard is working and making plans to come to Arles too. Laval, whom you don’t know, but who knows you through your letters and our little bits of gossip, joins us in shaking your hand. (Gauguin, 1888b)
Even in the face of the fragile financial situation of the Dutch painter, who received funding from his brother Theo, Vincent van Gogh demonstrated concern about the physical aspects of the Studio of the South (van Gogh, 1888b). In a letter addressed to Paul Gauguin, he warns that his friend will not find the house as comfortable yet as we gradually try to make it. Vincent van Gogh points out in the same correspondence that the changing of the landscape and the seasons will be appropriate for painting work. In his words: "I believe that once here, like me, you'll be seized with a fury to paint the autumn effects, between spells of the mistral" (van Gogh, 1888b). In September 1888, van Gogh purchased two beds, one for him and one for Paul Gauguin, with whom he would share a house in Arles, France.
In order to welcome his colleague Gauguin, van Gogh carefully arranged the hosting that would be shared with his colleague (Bailey, 2016). As a way to adorn the space, he painted a series of brightly colored still-life figurines with sunflowers on them. Van Gogh intended to use the paintings to decorate Gauguin's room in the yellow house of Arles in southern France (van Gogh, 2015). These paintings would later be recognized as one of his most famous works (Hauser, 1972, 1999; Murphy, 2016).
Gauguin was to arrive in Arles on Tuesday, 23 October 1888. Van Gogh and Gauguin worked together between October and December 1888. On 23 December 1888, van Gogh had a psychotic breakdown and threatened the French painter with a knife. Then, in a moment of severe depression, the Dutch painter cut a piece of his own ear, wrapped it in a cloth and handed it to a prostitute near a brothel. Contemporary research strongly endorses that it was Vincent's whole ear that was cut off, not just a small part of it, and the question has been raised about whether “Rachel” was a prostitute, and even if her name was Rachel (Barresi, 2018).
This incident is described by Murphy (2016: 155) as follows: […] he went to an establishment of ill repute and asked to speak to one of the girls. She came to the door and Vincent gave her a packet and asking her to look after it, ran off. The woman unwrapped the packet and with great surprise saw an ear, which belonged to none other than Vincent who had cut it off with a razor. The police went to the home of this individual today: they found him, lying on his bed, soaked in blood and apparently dying. The razor that he had used was found on the kitchen table.
In dealing specifically with the mutilated organ, one conjectures the assumption that auditory hallucinations occurred during the attack and that he cut off the ear to remove the sounds (Barresi, 2018).
As seen in his biography, Vincent van Gogh suffered from medical crises that were devastating, but in the intervening periods he was both lucid and creative. In this sense, several authors investigated his life in search of medical and psychological conjectures, hunting for explanations for his episodes of crisis, left-ear self-mutilation and suicide. Loftus and Arnold (1991) indicated porphyria as the disease that had affected Vincent van Gogh. Arnold (2004) analyzed the literature indicating that, among the various diseases that loomed over van Gogh, possible psychiatric diagnoses include borderline personality disorder, anxiety–depressive disorder with episodes of depression and hypomania and paranoid schizophrenia. Hughes (2005) indicated that van Gogh is an excellent example of the Geschwind syndrome, at times associated with a temporal epilepsy lobe; this fact does not establish such an epilepsy. Voskuil (2013) also spun the diagnosis of epilepsy for the Dutch painter. Another explanation is given by Correa (2014), postulating that van Gogh suffered from acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) as the most likely cause of van Gogh's ailment.
The riotous story of what happened in the Studio of the South is one of the most dramatic in the history of modern art, and the canvases created there are among the most pioneering and iconic images of the 19th century (Hauser, 1999). Vincent van Gogh's biography and art influenced other European artists (Kultermann, 1993).
Returning to the central idea of the Brazilian Pedagogical Residency program, that is, to develop theoretical and practical activities in a group of undergraduate students in a degree course in order to have their first experiences with teaching work, one can note a certain similarity in the artistic training proposal from the Studio of the South.
At this point, it is relevant to indicate that there is a gap in the literature regarding aspects that theoretically direct residents' actions in similar public policies (Klein et al., 2013; Papay at al., 2012; Williamson and Hodder, 2015). In this way, it is shown that the analysis of the main points of the Studio of the South provide elements and deeper insights for the elaboration of a praxis that guides the training of teachers in Brazil.
Part 2: teacher training based on van Goghian dossiers
Based on van Gogh´s idea of a “Studio of the South” we begin to look more closely at the formation processes of artists – musicians, actors, painters, dancers, photographers, etc. In a very different way from the Brazilian teachers (Feitosa and Leite, 2011, 2012; Silva, 2019), the artists have a formation that more cohesively combines theory and practice (Booth, 2003; Daichendt, 2009; Eisner, 1984, 2004; Thornton, 2005). While the future teacher suffers from the segregation between theory and practice, artists bridge these categories. In learning how to play the guitar, for example, a musician in training uses his instrument (practice) while learning to read the scores (theory).
The van Goghian biography allows us to consider teacher education. For the Dutch artist (van Gogh, 1882, 1888b, 2015), the relationship between theory and practice must occur organically. The reading of a book or painting, or even the reading of the biography of a great artist, for example, may lead a budding artist to different paths. However, such reading must be intertwined with the practical exercise of painting, since there is no point in the non-materiality of its expertise in a merely imaginary work of art. The exercise of painting is what makes the artist be what he really is. Van Gogh believed that such training becomes even more potent when shared by fellow studio members.
Making an analogy to teaching work, based on this background of juxtaposition between teacher training and artistic training, we understand that interdisciplinarity was a striking feature among the Studio of the South, inside the workshops. Interdependence in these artistic groups was treated as an epistemological approach that questioned the disciplined, fragmented view, meeting the knowledge arising from the medieval associations of fellow craftsmen (Feitosa and Leite, 2011). Bringing this idea closer to the van Goghian works, we realize that the painter fetches components from other areas to his work, such as literary writing and the inherent religiosity of his experience (Hauser, 1999; Kultermann, 1993; Murphy, 2016).
Following this formative perspective, we understand that the formative principle that comes from such an educational proposal is that knowledge should be shared between teachers and learners, through mutual help and dialogue (Feitosa and Leite, 2012). Thus, the association of teacher artists would be the starting point for the (re) construction of the experiential knowledge of the practice, where the members of such would jointly build and learn their own occupation (Daichendt, 2009; Thornton, 2005). At this point, we highlight that the use of the artist teacher category follows the idea that the word “[…] is one of those amorphous, hybrid neologisms hat serve a useful function” (Booth, 2003: 5).
This thought brings an important suggestion to teacher training courses, as well as serving as a starting point for thinking of a praxis for the Pedagogical Residency program, as it could create moments of discussion regarding the theoretical aspects related to teaching knowledge, interdisciplinarity and contextualization, as well as interacting with the contents of specific fields of knowledge (Mathematics, Sciences, Language, etc.).
However, Brazilian institutions come across obstacles to conduct actions that take into consideration these aspects, which usually occur only in the final periods of the undergraduate course, during supervised internships (Brazil, 2015; Silva, 2019). Thus, the disarticulation between theory and practice is eventually established, which causes damage to the formation of future teachers. The Pedagogical Residency program has a very relevant potential to catalyze the overcoming of dichotomies and gaps in university teacher education courses. Considering that the performance of the member of such a program occurs in direct contact with his future workplace – the school in its various levels: elementary school, middle school and high school – the members of the Pedagogical Residence develop their experiential knowledge from the pedagogical action. The resident's contact with the elementary school is broader than what occurs regularly in Brazilian teacher training courses (Silva, 2019). This is due to the fact that the resident must perform 440 hours of pedagogical actions within the activities of this public policy (including school planning, school setting, format lectures, immersion in the field of work and giving supervised classes) (Brazil, 2018).
The supervised internship, the main character of the Pedagogical Residency program, is a decisive moment for the formation of future teachers, because in this space–time the undergraduate students are at the end of their initial education at university and at the beginning of their professional life as educators in schools. Based on the metaphor of the teacher as an artist (Booth, 2003; Daichendt, 2009; Eisner, 2004; Thornton, 2005), we will seek theoretical–epistemological inspiration in the field of the formation of artists within craft corporations and art academies. Following the idea postulated by Feitosa and Leite (2011, 2012), we can think about teacher education through the lenses of associations of craft fellows, where such association learning occurs in theory–practice, because there is no separation between these dimensions. That said, it is assumed that there are different levels of such knowledge among the fellows of the association, with the most experienced having a series of knowledge that is built in everyday practice (so-called experiential knowledge), while we have the novices in the profession, who are seeking the development of this practical knowledge.
In this perspective, the practice would come to be perceived as a form of empirical knowledge. The practice would be improved by the relationship with theories of education and teaching, in which the subject appropriates a truly professional knowledge, through his own experience. Highlighting the relevance of practice does not exclude theory in any way, since we are “[…] guided by some texts that have a real practical meaning” (van Gogh, 2015: 371, free translation).
In addition to training the professional, while living with members of the corporations, it will be possible to share an enthusiasm for the new profession, with multiple links between the individuals who formed them, giving unity and enabling the construction of a professional identity of the teacher corporation.
This metaphor of the teacher–artist seems to be of great value for teacher education, as it emphasizes the importance of sharing knowledge between the most experienced professionals and the beginners. In Brazilian teacher training centers, traditionally, the most important moment in regard to the above-mentioned is supervised internship. We argue that there must be an interaction between the teacher–resident (resident) teachers and the more experienced teacher–teachers (preceptor), who receive residents during the internship period in the Pedagogical Residence program.
Moreover, we understand that the reflections generated by the members of these associations cannot be restricted to the individual level, but must expand to the collective level and need to be enriched by the theoretical subsidies of the teaching profession. Therefore, cooperation needs to work in daily actions among the residents themselves, as well as among other program members.
Returning to Vincent van Gogh's proposal from the Studio of the South, his suggestion to educate artists within a shared creative studio, we can indicate that the Pedagogical Residency program, as a teacher education public policy, can serve as a similar space–time. In a Pedagogical Residency atelier, teacher–artists can share their experiences and create a repertoire of educational tools from theory–practice that emerges from the contact with public schools.
Going in the same direction of this thought, besides Daichendt (2009), Feitosa and Leite (2011, 2012) and Thornton (2005), another thinker who can contribute to an analysis of the theme is Eisner (1984, 2002, 2004). According to this author, the purpose of the educational system should be the preparation of artists. For Eisner (2004), the word artist is not restricted to its denotative meaning, as painters, musicians, dancers, actors, poets or dramatic writers. The word refers to individuals who have developed ideas, sensations, skills and imaginary thinking to create a cleverly executed and imaginative work (artwork) that is independent of the domain in which an individual works.
Eisner (2004) has indicated that the greatest praise anyone can give is that he/she is an artist, whether as a doctor, chef, engineer or teacher. Artists are those who can think artistically about what they do, who can use their imagination, who can get involved and experience their work as it unfolds, who can explore the unexpected and who can ponder their direction based on feeling and reason.
Even the scientist himself can be seen as a laboratory artisan, a science that is learned and developed through the artistry of scientific work (Eisner, 2002). In the same way, the Pedagogical Residency members as artist–educators develop their work, equipped with intercurrent surprises that confront their pedagogical planning, trying to overcome the imponderable with their repertoire of artistic tools acquired in their theoretical and practical formation. This teaching work approximates the teacher to a free jazz musician, or even, he "[…] reads the qualitative cues of the situation as it unfolds and thinks on his feet, in many cases like a stand-up comedian" (Eisner, 1984: 26). Thus, the idea that education has something to learn from art pierces the "inside the box" aspect of our traditional beliefs about how to improve educational practice and teacher education.
According to the view suggested here, teaching can be seen as a profession that intrinsically carries artisanship. The teacher as an artist, in Eisner's view (2002), indicates that the educator of any area of the curriculum that is capable of promoting space–times for his students should develop imagetic–artistic thinking. Above all, what the author postulates can be summarized as follows: “I wish to help re-establish, to legitimize, to publicly acknowledge the art and craft of teaching” (Eisner, 1984: 19).
The idea of the teacher as an artist can be considered a theoretical–poetic metaphor, but going beyond the boundaries of poetry itself, a theory that at the same time satisfies the soul and forms the teaching mind (Daichendt, 2009; Eisner, 1984, 2002, 2004; Feitosa and Leite, 2011, 2012; Thornton, 2005). Here, a brief distinction should be made between the artist (the art of teaching) and the craftsman (the craft of teaching). The first one is like an artist in the classroom: he/she invents new ones in the process. The artist is rarer than the craftsperson (Eisner, 1984). On the other hand, the craftsperson creates essentially nothing new as a performer. This one has the repertoire, is skilled in its use in classroom and manages the performance quite well indeed, but the craftsperson ordinarily uses known routines.
With the proposals of the teacher as an artist, and in articulation with the idea of Vincent van Gogh's Studio of the South, we propose that education, especially teacher training within the Pedagogical Residency program, considers as the fundamental focus of the educational process the preparation of artists (teacher–artists), based on the ways of thinking that the arts evoke, develop and purify. We can all be more than artisans; we can be artists in professional teacher life.
Final considerations
By way of closing remarks, we can recall what Vincent van Gogh once wrote: “How beautiful in art, so much so that we can retain what we have seen. We will never then be disinherited, not truly lonely, never alone” (van Gogh, 2015: 126, free translation). In the van Goghian idea, in artistic formation there is no solitude, the only focus is the collectivity.
We believe that art, in its various forms – theater, dance, painting, photography, cinema, performance, etc. – intrinsically is a potential propeller of interdisciplinarity. Art enables the student to get in contact with dimensions that are generally neglected in the education of teachers from the most diverse areas (Sciences, Mathematics, etc.), namely aesthetics, sensitivity, affection, love and passion, among others.
Art allows the human being to get another mindset, the vision of beauty. Beauty of contemplating the beautiful full moon that is ready today, to see the goodness of lives, people and cultures. How often do we look at the world and do not see its beauty?
Analyzing Vincent van Gogh's ideas of educating artists, in articulation with the literature related to the teacher's field as an artist, we have shown that the art of teaching goes beyond a metaphor for thinking about teacher education, it becomes a theory of knowing/doing and being/becoming an educator. This path makes it very interesting to think about the praxis to be developed within the Pedagogical Residence program.
Being an artist (teacher) implies acting in uncertainty, making judgments that do not depend directly on a predefined formula. Artistic knowledge is not done mechanically, such as learning to spell or learning to use algorithms and arithmetic logic. In arithmetic and spelling, there are correct assertions, answers whose correction can be confirmed by following the founding principles of their respective field. On the other hand, in the arts there is an absence of rule, since what constitutes the right qualitative relations for any particular artistic work is idiosyncratic to that particular work. Of course, there are styles of works that serve as a model for expertise in the various arts, yet each work is particular. The arts, like van Goghian paintings, teach future educators to act and think in the absence of rule, to pay attention to the nuances of the classroom, to act and to reflect on the consequences of their choices.
It is understood that like every program and every public policy implemented, the Brazilian Pedagogical Residence lacks improvement and direction; however, the initial results have shown an effective change in the process of training future teachers. The possibility of contact, at different stages of the graduation with the educational reality, the accompaniment and guidance by the guiding professors and partners of the elementary, middle and high schools, has provided another look at the undergraduate courses of teacher education, both on the part of residents and the university itself.
An analysis of the current legislative provisions that regulate teacher training in Brazil does not indicate a solid State policy, but it does show that the country is moving with specific government actions, with no guarantee of continuity in future governments, as is seen in the current moment in the country, with retreat and increasingly cuts in education. The recently created pedagogical residency program is one of those policies, which needs continuity and direction for the praxis of its participants.
In this sense, it is necessary that teachers have a solid education that will only be possible within public universities in partnership with schools (their future workplaces) that work with pedagogical projects with the social perspective of human formation based on a perspective of overcoming the model of the existing social system and not merely adaptations or minor reforms.
It is hoped that the proposal launched throughout this article, to bring art and teacher education closer together, can support new actions and reflections on the teaching of pedagogical residencies. Finally, it is indicated that it is necessary to develop empirical and ethnographic research in the field in order to understand the specific functioning of groups of members of the pedagogical residence.
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/orpublication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).