"I'd like to learn to be a teacher": On the training of masters in graduate programs in the field of Food and Nutrition in Brazil

Objective:  To assess the scientific field of Food and Nutrition from the viewpoint of master students in Brazil, putting in question aspects of social relations in which it is steeped training for teaching this academic field. The concept of scientific field by Pierre Bourdieu guides the study, for whom knowledge production does not occur in a pure or neutral manner, and consensus occur due to outstanding interests in society.

Methods:  A total of 177 masters by the assessment area of nutrition in the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior answered open and closed questions in questionnaires sent over the Internet.

Results:  The vast majority were dieticians, women who entered the masters' program at age 28 on average, about four and a half years after graduation. Teaching was highlighted on expectations when entering the master's course, which has been fully met or exceeded for half of these teachers, this being attributed to the scientific improvement and good qualifications of faculty in the programs. In contrast, the short time, pressures for completion of the master's course and failure to prepare for teaching were criticized.

Conclusion:  The new rules in the scientific game, under the aegis of the requirements of productivist model, impose the recognition of significant problems within academic-oriented (stricto sensu) graduate courses, impacting the education. In this process evaluation of scientific productivity through market metrics is one of the models to be deeply questioned.

Nutritional Science; Knowledge; Education, graduate