Work, career, teaching development, and change in educational practice

Abstract

This article aims to discuss some issues found in recent literature on the teaching profession, the teachers’ working conditions, professional development, career, and change in educational practice. These points are taken as fundamental to the analysis of the improvement and change in school, with regards both to improvement in student learning in primary education, and to the relevant aspects of the possible social advancement of such students in the face of what they learned in primary education. The text advocates a greater coordination between public educational policy and teaching practice, so that teachers are not held responsible for the failure or success of student learning. This argument stems from the understanding that current changes in societies lead to the need for a school that is increasingly attentive to the demands of its time, with the teacher professional development and quality conditions for teaching.