STORYTELLING IN TEACHER EDUCATION: EVIDENCE AND GAPS IN PEDAGOGICAL COURSE PROJECTS

Abstract

Storytelling is a pedagogical practice historically present in processes of human formation, especially in Early Childhood Education and the early years of Elementary School, as it articulates language, orality, imagination, and pedagogical mediation. This article aims to analyze the manifestations of storytelling in teacher education through the examination of Pedagogical Course Projects (PCPs) of Pedagogy undergraduate programs at Brazilian public universities. This study adopts a qualitative, documentary research approach and analyzes thirteen PCPs selected through systematic searches in institutional repositories. The analysis focused on course syllabi, teaching methodologies, supervised internships, and fields of professional practice, seeking to identify direct, indirect, or absent references to storytelling. The results indicate that although storytelling is present in some programs—particularly in courses related to Children’s Literature and Art and Education—it is addressed in a fragmented and non-systematic manner, failing to function as a structuring axis in initial teacher education. The study concludes that significant gaps remain in the curricular integration of storytelling, highlighting the need for its intentional incorporation as a formative pedagogical strategy to foster orality, pedagogical mediation, and narrative skills in teacher education.