This paper presents part of a research project that studied Higher Education dropout in, focusing in three teacher education courses, in the state of Pará (Brazilian Amazon). In Brazil, in general, there is
a need for qualified teachers in several fields, and there has been a clear effort on the part of the government to invest in teacher training throughout the country. However, the abandonment numbers have raised major concerns for the institutions which offer both on-site and distance-learning courses, which largely explains the need for research on the subject. The aim of the study was to understand the main actors’ perspectives about dropout in these courses. The study followed a qualitative approach
(document analysis and semi structured interviews to: general coordinator, area coordinators, course coordinators, students that follow the course and students that have abandoned). In this paper, we centred in the teachers in continuous education that have abandoned their studies. Results showed that the vast majority of these students recognize a high prevalence of dropout. As for the factors for dropout, they refer mostly personal factors, followed by institutional factors, referring also socioeconomic and geographic and factors.
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