Porque brincar é coisa séria: o lugar do lúdico nas práticas escolares e na formação do educador ; Because playing is serious: the place of playfulness in school practices and in the education of educators

This work accords with Knowledge Research Area and School Practice from the Post-Graduation Course in Education of Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, more specifically with teachers' training. It aims to elucidate the place and meaning of playfulness in teacher training colleges. It also discusses the role of playfulness in children education and development based on the theories ofPiaget, Vygotsky, Chateau, Huizinga, Bandetand Sarazanas, Jacquin, Leifand Brunelle, and others'. It tries to verify how much the playfulness affects children's development Having studied all the theorists mentioned, the researcher suggests a discussion about the importance of playfulness in teacher training courses, more specifically, Cursos de Pedagogia (teacher training courses) which were broadly analyzed through a Brazilian historical study and recent discussions on academic and professional formation. Playfulness origin and related discussions during the eighties and nineties were recovered, and, having this goal in mind, the researcher took the Curso de Pedagogia da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia as the study object. She analyzed, deeply, its proposed syllabus, its disciplines' records, and, fínally, interviewed twenty students and teachers involved with the course, ffom both periods (morning and evening). More attention was given to the disciplines related, directly, to playfulness matters and its place on education. The analyzed disciplines are Psicologia da Educação (Education Psychology) , Princípios e Métodos da Alfabetização(MethoCi and Principies of Literacy), Didática G