State-of-the-art review and case study on the interface between university outreach and Sociology teacher education

Abstract

This paper presents a state-of-the-art review on the interface between university outreach and both initial and continuing teacher education in the Social Sciences. It identifies research gaps and offers reflections on the formative potential of outreach activities. The discussion is grounded in a literature review of existing academic work in the field, as well as in a case study of the Rio de Janeiro Sociology Olympiad, an outreach project coordinated by the Florestan Fernandes Sociology Teaching Laboratory, based at the Faculty of Education of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The methodology involved both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the literature, using the following databases: SciELO, Google Scholar, the CAPES Thesis Repository, and the Cadernos da Associação Brasileira de Ensino de Ciências Sociais (CABECS). The findings highlight the scarcity of research on the relationship between sociology teacher education and university outreach and point to some challenges in the implementation of such practices. The review reveals that outreach still occupies a marginal space in academic work. Anchored in Basil Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic recontextualization, the case study underscores the potential of outreach-based strategies to contribute to both initial and in-service teacher education, in alignment with a research-driven agenda.