The professionalism of teaching in Portugal's basic education: testimonies from teachers

Abstract

The present text, part of a case study that seeks to understand the pedagogical dynamics of the daily school life in the 1st cycle of basic education in Portugal, explores some of the aspects of the construction of teaching professionalism based on a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with four teachers from a public school located in the city of Braga. Data analysis, grounded in "impregnation" and "interpretation" as proposed by Michelat (1982), was organized around four categories: teacher initial education; the start of the teacher career; the exercise of the profession; and actions of teacher education. It is possible to conclude that: (i) the function of a teacher continues to be characterized by solitary activities, with the consequences to be expected; (ii) the absence of strategies to welcome new teachers, associated to the dynamics of teacher placing, imposes upon them professional beginnings that are often discouraging; (iii) actions of teacher education, as they continue to be offered, have established themselves more as certifying agencies that help functional ascent than as vectors of changes in curriculum practices. Considerations are made about the advantages of having in the schools experienced professionals with the task of giving support to new teachers, and also about the importance of putting in place processes of teacher professional education inside the schools, based on the logic of the constitution of reflection groups.