REVIEW ARTICLE
LIMA, Willis Correia de [1]
LIMA, Willis Correia de. Military Instructor: The teaching practice in the training of Air Force soldiers. Revista Científica Multidisciplinar Núcleo do Conhecimento. Year 05, Ed. 08, Vol. 06, pp. 65-79. August 2020. ISSN: 2448-0959, Access link: https://www.nucleodoconhecimento.com.br/education/military-instructor
SUMMARY
This article aims to identify the relevance of the Military Instructor in the training of soldiers of the Brazilian Air Force. Even if one has the empirical information of this importance, but it is up to its identification and measurement. This relevance was realized that most of the students have this thought of how unique the instructor is in their trainings. For this purpose, a research was used, where a form was used to collect and ratify the initial thinking of the relevance of the Military Instructor and the need for continued training to them. Thus, the training of soldiers is closely associated with the standard of excellence of their Military Instructors.
Keywords: Military Instructor, training, soldiers, relevance, training.
1. INTRODUCTION
This article visualizes in the military field an environment of formation of teaching practice not yet studied, being important the exposure of the ways and ways (processes) of teaching what this medium provides.
Harari (1976, p. 15) points out that
Cognitive, Agricultural and Scientific Revolutions were the most important in human history. Cognitive began about 70,000 years ago and it was in this milestone that knowledge was given. […] Long before history, there were already human beings […] (HARARI, 1976, p. 16).
That is, since the beginning of civilizations man fights, fights, fights and combats and the greatest and strongest humans had advantages, the large physical size inibia and the repressed force!
However, the actions of fighting, fighting, fighting and fighting generated the necessary knowledge to know how to handle weapons, plan strategies and implement the tactics and other knowledge that became indispensable to the combatants who needed and should be passed on to the youngest generations, in order to maintain the longevity of these knowledge (operational), well dramatized by the Spartans in the film “300 (2006)”.
According to the website Brasil Escola (2020)
The government, society and education of Sparta had a militaristic character, that is, the formation of the individual was necessarily the responsibility of the State. Boys from the age of seven were removed from the family and sent to operational training centers to be cut in military molds to favor the acquisition of strength and courage.
At the age of 17 they were supposed to pass the Kriptia – a kind of final test, and whoever survived would be able to incorporate into the army, as well as receive a plot of land. These warrior boys were trained, trained and taken to the extreme of physical and psychological conditions in the search for overcoming their limits.
However, “man desires competence, which consists of knowledge (knowing what, why), skills (knowing how to do, how) and attitudes (knowing how to act/want to do)”, according to the RH Portal website (2020).
Therefore, this competence of those who had provided all this was very important and had to survive the challenges of time and forgetfulness so that they can be perpetuated through instructors, preceptors, teachers and masters.
In view of the above, a scenario is contextualized that probably contributed to the emergence of the operational instructor (military) over time, its importance as a preceptor in operational teaching practice, as well as evidenced in this article the role of the Military Instructor, where emphasis will be placed on sergeants and non-officers, in the training of soldiers members of the Brazilian Air Force, one of the constituents of the Armed Forces (FFAA) of Brazil.
And to this end, this important professional is honored by the teaching pedagogical practice in the barracks, highlighting its writing through the initials in capital letters – Military Instructor.
1.1 JUSTIFICATION
The teaching-learning process is necessary in the acquisition of competence (knowledge, skills and attitudes) for the execution of an end-activity. This acquisition is sought in school, at university and also in the formation of the professional of war – the military.
For this, the modeler is needed in the training of the new military, the Military Instructor, who is the professional responsible for teaching practice in the training courses of the Air Force – on screen that of soldiers.
1.2 PROBLEM
What is the importance of the military instructor in the training of Air Force soldiers?
1.3 OBJECTIVES
1.3.1 OVERALL OBJECTIVE
Highlight the importance of the role of the Military Instructor during his teaching practice in the training of his peers, the soldiers.
1.3.2 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
Identify from instructors interviewed which teacher support was provided in relation to pedagogical practice.
Identify from the interview with trained soldiers the importance that the Military Instructor had (or has) in their lives.
Propose from the collected data the implementation of a pedagogical teaching program.
2. SOLDIER TRAINING COURSE (CFSD)
The Law of Military Service provides for male Brazilians the obligation to perform military enlistment in the year they turn 18. According to the Ministry of Defense (MD) annually, about 1.8 million citizens present themselves and 100,000 are incorporated into the Armed Forces. The Brazilian Air Force fulfills one of its legal duties, which is to ensure the participation of young people in the national defense. (BRASIL, 2020)
Article 83 of the Law on Guidelines and Bases of National Education (LDBEN), Law No. 9,394 of December 20, 1996, presents an important provision that establishes Military Education as being regulated in specific legislation – Instruction of the Aeronautical Command (ICA) 37-73/2013 and the Manual of Aeronautics Command (MCA) 37-143/2013. (BRASIL, 1996, 2013, 2013)
For ICA 37-73/2013, the purpose of establishing the Minimum Curriculum to be adopted in the Soldiers Training Course (CFSD), a document that establishes the minimum programmatic content to be developed for a given course or internship, laying the foundations for the preparation of the Didactic Units Plan (PUD). (BRASIL, 2013)
And for the MCA 37-143/2013 which is the Didactic Units Plan and complements the Minimum Curriculum of the Soldier Training Course (ICA 37-73/2013) containing the forecast of all the activities that instructing it will perform under the guidance of the Military Training Organization – the one responsible for ministering the instructions – to achieve the objectives of the course and train the 2nd class soldiers, commonly known as S2. (BRASIL, 2013; 2013)
The Soldier Training Course is held for a period of four months and is divided into two modules, the Adaptation Module that is intended for the knowledge of military conduct and the barracks environment, and the Specialization Module for basic instruction, consisting of civic, military and infantry instructions under the responsibility of the GUARNAE-NT ESD, where the thinking of General Sun Tzu , who lived half a century before Christ, is important in the reflection of self-knowledge by soldiers, when it is presented
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you don’t have to fear the outcome of a hundred battles. If you know yourself, but do not know the enemy, for each victory obtained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will lose all battles. (SUN TZU, 2007)
In order to achieve this knowledge of themselves, the recruit – the one who is participating in the CFSD, an important link is necessary in the formation of these young people, is the one who will be responsible for facilitating knowledge, cutting skills, encouraging attitudes and indoctrinating – the Military Instructor.
3. MILITARY INSTRUCTOR – WHO IS THIS?
According to the digital dictionary Infopédia (2020), it informs us that
Instructor comes from latin instructōre; preparer, is the one who instructs or teaches; teacher; Monitor. He is responsible for instructing a person during a course, is the one who teaches and shares his knowledge in a practical and dynamic way, and must be respected as a teacher.
Being that, the Military Instructor is the one specific to the world of barracks. The Brazilian Army (EB) contributes by presenting us as being “That specialist in military affairs, possessing the specific knowledge of his profession and able to help in learning this knowledge to his students”. (BRAZIL, 1997)
In the Brazilian Air Force, this instructor, too, is played by the Officer, Petty Officer and Sergeant – who begins with the 3rd, passes through the 2nd and reaches the 1st, volunteer or indicated among those military who have an ethical, moral, civic and social profile. It should be an example in behavior, discipline and hierarchy, possessing high technical and doctrinal knowledge. Just as, the teacher is a reference to his students, the Military Instructor is the military reference that the instructing (graduating, apprentice) mirrors in being during his military career.
Generally this military and instructor is an effective member of the ESD and other sectors of GUARNAE-NT for some disciplines of aeronautical knowledge, which will perform the teaching function (even without having pedagogical training) during the period of training of future soldiers of fab.
Graduates graduated from the School of Aeronautics Specialists (EEAR) have in their curricula the knowledge of the discipline Oral and Written Communication (COES) that aims to provide a minimum training necessary in planning and ministering instructions, performing the procedures recommended by the fundamentals of education and didactics.
Pimenta (2012, p. 180) identifies that “Educational practice in the technical depth of teaching, which presents instrumental didactics and involves techniques, teaching materials, class control, curricular innovations, skills and skills of the teacher/instructor” (our highlight).
Thus, the military of recognized military and technical proficiency will be invited or indicated to fulfill the noble mission of sharing the skills (of knowledge, skills and attitudes) in the formation of new soldiers of the Air Force.
4. HOW THE MILITARY INSTRUCTOR IS TRAINED
The motivational phrase “it’s better to have a skill and never use it, than not to have it, if you need it!” (TEES BRAZIL, 2020), aligns with the text written in the Military Statute, where the military presents an essential value in the search for professional improvement that must be constantly sought (BRASIL, 1980) and the training courses for the acquisition of knowledge (didactic and pedagogical) teachers provide greater interaction with students transmitting security and pedagogical domain, as well as preparing them to interact in the face of the demands that the military career requires.
Severino (2007, p. 27), corroborates the finding that “knowledge is the great strategy that differentiates human action from other species.”
It is known that the Military Instructor will not always present the training in pedagogy or another degree that can help you in teaching practice. It is well known, that for some it will be an “impact” to have to teach an instruction (class) with only the knowledge of the specific area of knowledge (referring to the knowledge of their specialty), as much as they have experienced the discipline of Oral and Written Communication during a period of the two years of the Training Course of Sergeants (CFS) at the School of Aeronautics Specialists – Guaratinguetá / SP.
In order to face other possible and future situations – teaching practice, it is necessary that the instructor receives or provides training and training in order to make it and guarantee access to the skills necessary for the development of the teaching professional.
As Senac warns us (2011, p. 52),
The training aims to provide the improvement of what is already known and objectively improve their skills, that for a training to be effective, it must be in line with the objectives of the company (FAB) and consider not only the knowledge and skill of the professional, but also the behavior necessary for the performance of the activities (the profile of the teacher).
Training continues with the intention of preparing and developing an activity, being trained refers us to the name of the one with competence to (exercise), as Geringher (2008, p. 17) presents us “[…] a professional has to be concerned, from the first day he begins to work, to consolidate his name. Our name is our first trademark.”
To this end, the Aeronautics Command presents in the Aeronautical Command Tables (TCA 37-14/2018, TCA 37-11/2019 and TCA 37-4/2019) courses that will provide pedagogical expertise, such as: (BRASIL, 2018, 2019, 2019)
- CPI – Instructor Preparation Course – TCA 37-14/2018 (Semi-face-to-face)
- PCPD – Teaching Pedagogical Training Program – TCA 37-11/2019 (EaD)
- CBIC – Comprep Basic Instructor Course – TCA 37-4/2019 (EaD)
The CPI aims to prepare instructors for the Aeronautical Command, enabling them to perform teaching functions. It is ideal for all instructors to perform the CPI, as it consists of a considerable workload of 194 hours, is performed in the semi-face-to-face modality – a distance part (EaD) and a face-to-face period of three weeks (99 hours) – favoring the teaching practice and providing the participant with primary knowledge of employment by the Military Instructor. (BRASIL, 2018)
The Teacher Pedagogical Training Program is carried out in the distance modality and aims to train professionals in the composition of the faculty of the courses and internships focusing on face-to-face teaching through 198 hours and contemplating: General didactics and teaching methods and techniques; Educational resources and technologies applied to education; Planning and teaching practice; and Learning assessment. (BRASIL, 2019)
And the Comprep Basic Instructor Course aims to train the military for the planning and execution of classroom teaching and learning activities under the Preparation Command (COMPREP) in which GUARNAE-NT is subordinated. The course presents the following programmatic content: Teaching documentation; Teaching practices; and Learning assessment. EaD is performed and has a workload of 91 hours. (BRASIL, 2019)
It is noteworthy that the lack of training in one of these courses does not make it impossible for the military to practice teaching practice, because the main objective will be the fulfillment of the noble mission of forming new military personnel.
5. AND ITS IMPORTANCE
The interest of the Homeland prioritized over any other interest and the externalized pride of being Brazilian, the cult of patriotism and civility are examples of dedication and fidelity to the Homeland, and the apex is in the solemn oath that is carried out by “dedicating itself entirely to the service of the Fatherland, whose honor, integrity and institutions will be defended, with the sacrifice of one’s own life” , as described in the Military Statute. (BRASIL, 1980)
For the internalization of these actions, someone is needed to teach and provide learning, and above all, believe and practice faithfully for the formation and strengthening of a citizen society through young soldiers.
The order even convinces, but the example drags! This is the great mission of the military teacher, drag by example (convince him), so the Military Instructor has the task of reflecting his image in the mirror of the life of the instructive (student, apprentice) as to the essential manifestations of the military values represented by Patriotism, Civility, Faith in mission, Spirit of body, Love of the Fatherland, and Technical-Professional Improvement during their coexistence, in line with the values presented in Federal Law No. 6,880/80. (BRASIL, 1980)
Human beings present the behavior of imitation and incorporation of everything that is admired in another “reference being”, this starts from an early age when as a child imitates everything that their parents and teachers accomplish! Thus, it takes place in the student/instructor relationship, retaining the good examples and good doctrinal influences.
6. METHODOLOGY
It was an action research that is based on “understanding, aims to intervene in the situation, with a view to modifying it. […] while performing a diagnosis and analysis of a given situation […]” (SEVERINO, 2007, p. 120)
As a data collection instrument, a form with eight (8) questions was used, seven (7) closed and one (1) open for the instructors. For the soldiers, another form containing five (5) questions was used, four (4) closed and one (1) open. The sample included 12 military personnel who were divided into two groups of six (6) participants each – Military Instructors and soldiers, in the city of Parnamirim/RN, seeking to identify from them the importance of teaching practice in the military institution of this study.
According to the results obtained in the interviews, the perceptions of each group whose answers were analyzed and discussed later can be perceived.
7. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The following are the results presented by the interviews:
(a) military instructors:
It should be noted that 50% (3) of the instructors are formed by 3rd sergeants, 16.7% (1) by 2nd sergeant and 33.3% (2) by 1st sergeants and that their age groups are between 26 and 55 years and all men. Half of the interviewees have an academic background and all attended COES. The experience time presented was up to 5 years for one third of the instructors, plus a third for up to 10 years of experience and one third remaining with more than 15 years of experience.
Half of the instructors do not have any of the training courses (CBIC, PCPD or CPI) and half consider the importance of training “far above normal – 9 to 10”.
And for the open question, they were asked to externalise how necessary it is necessary to participate in teaching pedagogical training through the courses (CBIC, PCPD, CPI and others), where their statements are transcribe:
“It is necessary for the real posture and resourcefulness in the platforms of these courses” [sic] – Participant A
“It is of great importance to conduct the courses mentioned, because they instruct in a more specific and in-depth way the way of teaching.” [sic] – Participant B
“It is extremely important to frequent ly conduct these courses for instructors, as teaching techniques are improving over time.” – [sic] Participant C
“Learning to transmit knowledge becomes essential in an increasingly globalized world, where information is just a click away. In a context where students are proactively active in their learning, understanding teaching mechanisms and applying them appropriately is what, in fact, can make the neophyte become the best of itself in any discipline.” [sic] – Participant D
“They didn’t pay as much attention as they do now. They gave the course to the one who would never use it. With the advent of professional pedagogues in our life, they began to notice the importance of specialization in our environment, especially for those who perform the function of instructing. You must have updates constantly. But I remember that being specialized also depends on the instructor. That’s what i’m[sic] going to do.” – Participant E
“This pedagogical training is extremely important, especially for recent graduates of EEAR. Given that these courses are currently given as a “prize” to most teachers (usually military personnel with more than 15 years of service). And these award-winning military men are no longer at the forefront of military training.” [sic] – Participant F
(b) as for soldiers:
Of the participants 83.3% (5) are Soldiers of 2nd class – S2 and 16.7% (1) soldier 1st class – S1. They are young men aged 18 to 24 years and 100% of the participants said that the Military Instructor had an importance of “much above normal – 9 to 10” in their training and more than 80% identified as “far above normal – 9 to 10” the relevance of the Military Instructor in citizen education.
It was left open to the interviewees who declared how important the role of the Military Instructor in his military and civilian formations was important, these are the statements of the participants:
“Learning to face life’s adversities more maturely” – [sic] Participant 1
“the military instructor, made me think a lot about my attitudes, wrong actions have consequences, the right ones have bonuses.” [sic] – Participant 2
“Through the instructor is that we learn more, he is indispensable in the formation of the value of the military.” [sic] – Participant 3
“very important, because with them we learn what it is to have body spirit and to know how important it is to honor and speculate our brothers in arms and this is something that we also take to life outside the barracks” [sic] – Participant 4
“Essential” [sic] – Participant 5
“Essential, because the things we learn in the barracks will take for life” [sic] – Participant 6
However, the instructor trained (trained and qualified) in areas of pedagogical knowledge will be able to act in classes and instructions (practices) that require teaching action in the military activity performed with responsibility and excellence in the final training of men and women who serve the Homeland.
As well as, it is necessary to encourage and facilitate the continuous training program, already existing in the laws of the Command, for all Military Instructors to carry out pedagogical training.
And it is clear how indispensable the role of the Military Instructor is essential, not only in the life of the military during his period of formation castrense, but especially at the beginning of his career, also highlighting his relevance to his peers and other subordinates, in strengthening and training the young Brazilian citizen through discipline and hierarchy.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
At this moment, the instructional practices of the Military Instructor are associated during the performance of the CFSD, evidencing its importance during the teaching exercise in the training of the citizen soldier and proposing the encouragement and facilitation in the continued pedagogical training according to the guidelines of the Air Force Command, aiming to arouse the interest and relevance of the graduate-instructor in the great mission of instructing!
Thus, it is evident the role of the Military Instructor in the training of soldiers that is of recognized importance and that occurs to the teaching practice by graduates (sergeants and non-commissioned officers) in sharing their knowledge, skills and attitudes during the formation of new soldiers of the Brazilian Air Force.
Semper instruère! (always instruct yourself, our translation) With this thought and above all invest in the primordial resource of an institution, the human being, through the pedagogical-teacher training courses providing military instructors with essential tools in the teaching-learning action.
Thus, through this article, the importance of the Military Instructor in the training of soldiers is highlighted, as well as, the constant teacher training is reiterated, clarifying that the study here does not end because it is a field of knowledge filled with challenges and constant mutation.
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APENDICES
1. Instructor interview form
2. Instructor interview form
3. Soldier interview form
4. Result of the interview with the soldier
[1] Master’s student in Educational Sciences at FACSIDRO (Faculdade de Sidrolândia / MS); Specialist in Teaching in Higher Education by UnP (Potiguar University); Technologist in Enterprise Security Management by UnP; Non-officer of the Brazilian Air Force and Military Instructor.
Sent: July, 2020.
Approved: August, 2020.
