The present paper aims at providing an answer to the following research questions: - What are the teachers’ attitudes towards the new roles defined by Simões, bearing in mind the perspective of a permanent education? - Is there a relationship between the level of teacher’s continuous training and their greater or lesser predisposition towards the change in their roles? The new roles of teachers, as defined by Simões (1979), in view of the permanent/lifelong education, when comparing the teachers’ traditional roles with the demands of today’s society, are: research collaborator and agent for pedagogical innovation; facilitator of learning; techno-pedagogue; co-evaluator; and skilled member of a pedagogical team. An empirical study was thoroughly undertaken, involving a representative sample of 377 teachers of the 2nd and 3rd cycles of Basic and Secondary levels who worked in eight schools from Viseu county (Portugal) (Cardoso, 2000). A specially designed scale of attitudes was used. This scale, containing 48 items, showed satisfactory psychometric characteristics, with an internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach alpha) of .92. The various dimensions of this scale, obtained after factorial analysis, and the respective coefficients of internal consistency, were: co-evaluation/innovation (.82); skilled member of a pedagogical team (.87); personal development of the student/innovation (.73); educator (.75) and techno-pedagogue (.69). The results revealed that, broadly speaking, the teachers appear to be receptive to the new roles proposed, but these attitudes vary, depending on the roles subject to analysis. Thus, it is worth noticing that teachers were seen to be more receptive to the roles of co-evaluator, followed by that of a skilled member of a pedagogical team and of personal development of the student/innovation. The role that teachers seemed less open to was that of techno-pedagogue. They also revealed that the teacher’s level of continuous training, operationalised in terms of the number of participations in refresher courses (conferences, seminars, congresses, ...), in works of scientific and pedagogical diffusion and in research projects (at school or extra-school), is positively correlated, and in a significant way (p. <0.01), with the teachers’ attitudes towards the new roles, in general (.26) and also in relation to any of the roles corresponding to the dimensions of the scale: co-evaluation/innovation (.26), skilled member of a pedagogical team (.25) and personal development of the student/innovation (.14). This means that the teachers who have a greater level of continuous training also tend to reveal more positive attitudes concerning the new roles defined. Such result fits well into a theoretical approach, well accepted by most experts that education is of utmost importance to the stimulus of quality teaching (Cardoso, 2003). In practical terms, a pedagogical implication to be drawn from this study concerning teachers’ education is the importance given to the stimulus of participation in activities that involve the teachers’ co-operation, either of scientific and pedagogical diffusion or of a research nature, since these may contribute to a greater predisposition to a change, namely with regard to their roles. Indeed, the participation in research projects or in works of scientific and pedagogical diffusion, namely in co-operation with peers who work at the same institution, and similar ones, has been pointed out as an important source of motivation and of self-confidence for teachers (e.g., Vulliamy & Webb, 1991), as well as of change in pedagogical practice (e.g., Dalin, 1998).

An empirical study was thoroughly undertaken, involving a representative sample of 377 teachers of the 2nd and 3rd cycles of Basic and Secondary levels who worked in eight schools from Viseu county (Portugal). A specially designed scale of attitudes was used. This scale, containing 48 items, showed satisfactory psychometric characteristics, with an internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach alpha) of .92. The various dimensions of this scale, obtained after factorial analysis, and the respective coefficients of internal consistency, were: co-evaluation/innovation (.82); skilled member of a pedagogical team (.87); personal development of the student/innovation (.73); educator (.75) and techno-pedagogue (.69).

The results revealed that, broadly speaking, the teachers appear to be receptive to the new roles proposed, but these attitudes vary, depending on the roles subject to analysis. Thus, it is worth noticing that teachers were seen to be more receptive to the roles of co-evaluator, followed by that of a skilled member of a pedagogical team and of personal development of the student/innovation. The role that teachers seemed less open to was that of techno-pedagogue. They also revealed that the teacher’s level of continuous training is positively correlated, and in a significant way (p. <0.01), with the teachers’ attitudes towards the new roles, in general (.26) and also in relation to any of the roles corresponding to the dimensions of the scale: co-evaluation/innovation (.26), skilled member of a pedagogical team (.25) and personal development of the student/innovation (.14).