O papel da pós-graduação stricto sensu em Administração na formação das competências docentes

Abstract

The reflection proposed in this study focuses on the development of teaching competences among students enrolled in academic master’s programs (stricto sensu) in Business Administration offered in Brazil. The dissertation investigates how such programs contribute to building these competences, addressing the historical predominance of research over teaching in evaluation criteria and in the daily routines of graduate programs, as well as the resulting pedagogical training gap. The research question is: how do these programs contribute to teaching competence development? The general objective is to understand this process, with specific aims to list key competences, map faculty profiles and the frequency of their teaching, and propose an action panel for the programs. The theoretical framework discusses the foundations of teacher training in Business Administration and adopts Experiential Learning Theory as a lens to articulate theory and practice, emphasizing active methods as strategies for teaching development. Methodologically, this is an applied, descriptive, quantitative, cross-sectional study, conducted through a survey using a structured electronic questionnaire with Likert-type scales, directed to permanent faculty members of graduate programs in Business Administration (PPGAs) in the Northeast region of Brazil. The universe comprised 228 faculty members (contacted via email), with a final valid sample of 62 respondents. The competences measured were based on Souza-Silva et al. (2022) and operationalized into items grouped into didactic-pedagogical, humanistic, and conceptual dimensions. Statistical procedures included descriptive analysis, assessment of the measurement model, and comparisons of factor scores according to sociodemographic, professional, and formative-experience characteristics. The results outline respondents’ profiles and map formative pathways, with experiential “learning by doing” emerging as the predominant route for teaching development and low participation in specific training courses — underscoring the centrality of practical experience in the current formative trajectory of PPGAs. The competence scale showed adequate distribution of responses and psychometric qualities, with an adjusted measurement model and reliability and fit indices consistent with the literature, supporting the interpretation of the assessed dimensions. Subsequent comparisons of mean scores across groups revealed how faculty attributes and experiences relate to different competence dimensions taught in the programs. The integrative analysis, informed by experiential learning, indicates that the formative trajectory prioritizes experiences and practice but requires pedagogical systematization to ensure balanced development across didactic-pedagogical, humanistic, and conceptual dimensions. Based on the diagnosis, the dissertation presents an integrative panel with eight proposed actions to bridge the gap between theory and practice and strengthen the teaching formation axis in PPGAs. It concludes that teacher training in these programs is a work in progress, requiring systematic and integrated attention to ensure that future graduates not only master content but also acquire the competence to teach with quality and social commitment.