Theory and reality in Labor Law teaching: an experience report of the university extension ‘Dialogues about the life project’

Abstract

Analyzes the use of active methodologies in Labor Law teaching, based on the experience report of the university extension project entitled ‘Dialogues about the life project’. It addresses the importance of a methodological change in teaching and learning processes, especially regarding labor issues, which demands a deep dialogue between theory and reality; and presents extension students’ perfections regarding the extension’s practical experience within the legal education processes. The proposal suggests a change in legal education methods pattern, traditionally based on the discursive model, in which the professor has a knowledge transmission task and the students are its recipients and accumulators, merely. We seek forms to improve the academic education quality, investing in interactivity, participation and active integration of the student in the teaching-learning process. In this sense, the participating students’ perception, reported during extension actions, demonstrates the contribution of active methodologies for socially relevant interaction and the encouragement of autonomous, reflective, and problematizing posture, based on the identification and resolution of community daily problems. The study was developed from the descriptive method and bibliographic and documentary techniques, and the participating students’ perceptions were shared through unstructured forms at the end of the first activities year.