THE PEDAGOGICAL DIMENSION OF RETENTION: ELEMENTS FOR A DISCUSSION ON INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITY AFTER THE PANDEMIC

Abstract

New and old challenges of student retention have been mapped and discussed in recent years. Our work starts from the challenges experienced during the pandemic period and how this circumstance pressured institutions to both include and expand direct actions in their administrative agendas that considered the various dimensions of retention which includes material, symbolic and pedagogical aspects. Thus, our objective is to bring subsidies to the debate on institutional responsibility within the scope of retention in higher education with elements that consider the privileged role of managers and faculty in the trajectories of students with academic difficulties. We highlight the experience of the UFRJ Polytechnic School, as well as its pedagogical demands and challenges. In general terms we privilege the pedagogical dimension of student retention in STEM courses. The data used were obtained through a bibliographical review on retention in higher education, academic/pedagogical support, including STEM courses and retention actions in the pandemic, research on news and institutional sites (UFRJ), considering the items mentioned, and data from research carried out by the Laboratory of Studies and Research in Higher Education - LEPES. In general, we identified few advances in relation to discussions on overcoming academic difficulties, especially in the initial years of undergraduate courses at the UFRJ School of Engineering. However, perceptions regarding the role of managers and faculty in relation to academic difficulties have been expanded and given new meanings through new questions and pressures arising from the growing demand of students.