Didática no ensino superior: desafios e perspectivas dos docentes de Odontologia da Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa

The objective of this study was to evaluate the perception of teachers of the Dentistry course regarding the main difficulties faced and the skills essential for the exercise of the higher education teaching profession. For that, a qualitative research was carried out with 47 professors of the Dentistry course at the State University of Ponta Grossa, divided into two groups: a) less than 5-year teaching experience; b) over 5-year teaching experience. After the validation of the questionnaire, it was sent to the participants of the research to answer open questions about teaching in higher education. After data collection, a descriptive analysis of the information, exploration of the material and interpretation of the results were carried out. Among the challenges faced, teachers with more than 5 years of work experience cited the responsibility to train a professional, difficulty motivating students and developing self-confidence for teaching as the main points. On the other hand, teachers with less than 5 years of experience pointed out the relationship with the student, professional insecurity and obtaining a balance between theory and practice as the main challenges. With regard to the difficulties currently faced, the responses were similar for the two groups, namely, students’ lack of interest, lack of infrastructure and support material to teach classes were the most cited. The most mentioned skills by the teachers as essential to the practice of the profession included patience, didactics and the need for constant updating. The results led to the conclusion that teachers face difficulties in teaching practice regardless of the time of performance.