Curricular innovation in college education: challenges and possibilities

Abstract

We conceive the university extension experiences relevant for pedagogical innovation in the formative processes in the university, because in them there are possibilities of intercultural dialogues between communities that struggle for recognition and inclusion. We understand that for pedagogical innovation it is necessary curricular innovation. (Campani, Silva and Parente, 2018). Based on the studies of Santos (2008), Bondia (2002), Popkewitz (2001), Hall (2006) we define curricular innovation as a reinventive intercultural experience sustained by a socially constructed epistemology embodied by an inclusive curriculum. In this article, we aim to analyze the contribution of the University Extension Program, the Incubator of Economic Solidarity Projects - IEES, for the process of curricular innovation of the State University Vale do Acaraú. This Program aims to empower communities to undertake and work in the solidarity economy. In analyzing the teachers' statements about their experiences of extension in the Program under study, we identified that, in creating differentiated ways of knowing and relating to knowledge in processes of interculturalities and inclusion, they intend to break with the scientific regularities, thus enhancing curricular innovation.