O lugar da educação em direitos humanos no curso de Direito: uma discussão em torno da experiência no processo de formação na Universidade Regional do Cariri – URCA (Campus Multi-institucional Humberto Teixeira – Iguatu/CE)

Abstract

The present text presents our investigation in the field of education in/for human rights in the context of higher education, more specifically in the Law course. Our general objective was to identify in the Law course of the Regional University of Cariri - URCA (Multi-institutional Campus Humberto Teixeira - Iguatu / CE) the presence, in the teaching of human rights, of educational practices that strengthen humanizing and dialogic training processes in defense of human dignity. As specific objectives we had: to present how human rights training in Law courses historically occurred; to characterize the concepts of humanization, dialogic relationship and educational practice in the context of training in human rights; and, finally, to examine the impacts of educational practices, in their challenges and perspectives in promoting and strengthening (in the course of Law), a dialogical and humanizing formative process in the defense of human dignity. The research was justified by the need, from a local reality, to deepen the theme and to be able to discuss the dialogic relationship between the work of professionals with the construction/change/improvement of a training in/for human rights inspired by humanization and in promoting human dignity. Based on the theoretical survey on the subject, we highlight the need to present some aspects that may contribute to a rethinking of Latin American legal education, such as interdisciplinarity, the study of law from a local reality, the incorporation of popular knowledge, the association of teaching with praxis. The epistemological crisis experienced in legal education, the lack and fragility of humanizing and dialogic practices, the predominance of a “banking” concept of teaching (from the Freirean perspective), among other issues, led to questioning the educational practices used until then in Law courses. The role that education and, consequently, the university has was worked from the pedagogical and social thought of professor Paulo Freire, as well as from the studies of Mikhail Bakhtin, Martin Buber, Maria de Nazaré Tavares Zenaide and Giuseppe Tosi, among others. The research is still divided into two other stages: the first consists of a document analysis, mainly, of the Pedagogical Project of the Law Course of URCA; the second consists of a qualitative transversal field research, focused on looking around the practical reality of the theme in the law course. Research data were analyzed based on Bardin (2004) content analysis, promoting a dialogue with the theoretical frameworks worked on In relation to the results obtained, it was observed that education in/for human rights at the URCA campus Iguatu is a process under construction, showing an ethical positioning of the course aimed at promoting human dignity, citizen education and professional ethics. However, institutional, academic, financial and motivational challenges significantly impact for the EDH presence in education to be effective. Currently, research and extension are the main avenues for EDH, with a lack of educational practices focused on the teaching field.