Challenges and Dilemmas for Dental Undergraduate Teaching with the Advent of COVID-19

João Henrique Lara Do Amaral,Simone Dutra Lucas,Marcos Azeredo Furquim Werneck,Maria Inês Barreiros Senna,Andrea Clemente Palmier

doi:10.1590/pboci.2021.067

Abstract

Since the 1980s, the development of neoliberalism has been observed in Brazil, which has led to the progressive weakening of public policies (including those of education) and the population's impoverishment. In the field of education, there was an increase in the privatization of higher education, inadequate to the requirements of national development, characterizing it more as a commodity than as a right. This article aims to discuss some challenges, risks, and possible strategies to face the impact of the COVID19 pandemic in undergraduate dental education. This pandemic had an immediate and dramatic impact on dental education in more than 130 countries, prompting teachers and students to adopt remote teaching activities. In Brazil, theoretical classes were offered remotely, mainly in private institutions where there was an intensification of academic work for both teachers and students. This process requires support in technological and pedagogical aspects, including tools, resources, and training courses. In the resumption of clinical education, changes in biosafety actions are being proposed to preserve the health of the actors involved. The application of these measures will imply a great mobilization of students, teachers, and technicians and extra attention so that the constitutive dimensions of the teaching-learning process in health are not minimized or forgotten.

Highlights

Brazil presents a scenario of uncertainties in which the advance of the COVID-19 pandemic and the predictions of economic recession reveal the consequences of the adoption of the neoliberal political model, which bets on the minimal state and weakens public social policies facing a situation of high-income concentration, increased social vulnerability and the risk of sickness for a significant portion of the population [1].The adoption of neoliberal policies in Brazil began under the Collor de Melo government and progressed under the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration, with the main resources being a containment of public spending and privatizations, revealing a low investment by the Brazilian State in public policies, increasing the income concentration and poverty
Since the 1980s, the development of neoliberalism has been observed in Brazil, which has led to the progressive weakening of public policies and the population's impoverishment
This article aims to discuss some challenges, risks, and possible strategies to face the impact of the COVID19 pandemic in undergraduate dental education

Summary

Introduction

Brazil presents a scenario of uncertainties in which the advance of the COVID-19 pandemic and the predictions of economic recession reveal the consequences of the adoption of the neoliberal political model, which bets on the minimal state and weakens public social policies facing a situation of high-income concentration, increased social vulnerability and the risk of sickness for a significant portion of the population [1].The adoption of neoliberal policies in Brazil began under the Collor de Melo government and progressed under the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration, with the main resources being a containment of public spending and privatizations, revealing a low investment by the Brazilian State in public policies, increasing the income concentration and poverty. This pandemic had an immediate and dramatic impact on dental education in more than 130 countries, prompting teachers and students to adopt remote teaching activities.

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