Research and professional knowledge construction in Early Childhood Teachers' Education: a study of student teachers' dissertations within two programmes in Portugal.

Author(s):

Maria Pacheco FigueiredoGabriela Portugal Maria do Céu Roldão

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 06B, Research on Continuous Professional Development and Teacher Qualifications

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-11

10:30-12:00

Room:

A1 334

Chair:

Alastair McPhee

Contribution

In a time of change for teachers, the relationship between teacher professionalization and the power and responsability over professional knowledge production becomes increasingly relevant and complex. Different authors from the Sociology of Professions (Rodrigues, 1997) frame this question but the emphasis in the role of teachers as knowledge producers (Krejsler, 2005; Lüdke, 2004; Roldão, 2005; Zeichner & Diniz-Pereira, 2005) is also parallel with changes in the ways in which knowledge is produced (Gibbons et al., 1994; Nowotny, Scott & Gibbons, 2001). Both Schön’s reflexive practitioner (1983) and Stenhouse’s teacher-researcher (1975) conceptualizations already highlighted the idea of teachers as responsible for the production of their professional knowledge, although a sense of exteriority in regard to this knowledge is usually associated with teachers (Nóvoa, 1995; Tardiff, 2000; Montero, 2005). The agenda for teacher education has included research both as a formative tool and aim (Durand, Saury & Veyrunes, 2005; Lüdke & Cruz, 2005; Perrenoud, 1993), at international (OECD, 2005), european (Directorate-General for Education and Culture, European Comission, 2005; Comission of the European Communities, 2007) and national level. In Portugal, both the changes in the required qualification for being a basic education teacher, in 1997, and the more recent Bologna debate and subsequent Ministry directions about teacher education programmes have brought research in pre-service teacher education programmes to the foreground. The change in the qualifications was seen as a strengthening of knowledge production by early childhood teachers, in the form of final thesis/essays in the new programmes, and as recognition of the scientific status of specific educational knowledge by the higher education institituions (“universitisation”) (Roldão, 2002).

Method

In this paper we’ll present a study being developed by the authors within a doctoral programme that aims to describe the ways in which professional knowledge production is: a) conceived and has been implemented in the 20 pre-bologna teacher education programmes in Portugal (university and polytechnic), and b) its relationship with the students’ and early childhood teachers' construction of professional knowledge and identity. After identifying the 10 early childhood teacher education programmes which require the students to do research work in their final year (Figueiredo & Roldão, 2007), in this paper we focus on the actual research work done by students. The research reports from 160 students, from two different programmes (100/60), were analysed in terms of the substantive, conceptual and methodological domains (Brinberg & McGrath, 1985) allowing us to map the knowledge production processes being developed by the future early childhood teachers. Based on informal interviews with supervisors from both programmes we also analysed the different knowledge sharing and discussion strategies undertook.

Expected Outcomes

Both programmes and final seminar courses underline knowledge production as a formative aim, as well as the problematization and questioning, by the future teachers, of practices and conceptions. Preliminary analysis of the research reports reflects this tendency: the research developed by the students shows a clear pedagogical-didatic focus, centered in answering research questions closely linked with practice. This is followed by an interest in questions regarding the child, informed by a recent emphasis in research with children (Sarmento, 2004). The predominant methodology is action-research (Elliott, 2000), which might sugest a proximity to Schön's (1983) perspective on the impossibility of disassociating professional knowledge from the professional practice it corresponds to. The ongoing analysis of the data will also question how the five “specificity generator” elements of teachers’ professional knowledge analysed by Roldão (2007) - composite nature, analytical capacity, mobilising and questioning nature, meta-analysis, communicability and circulation – are delt with in the research reported by the students.

References

Brinberg, D. & J. E. McGrath (1985): Validity and the Research Process. London: Sage Directorate-General for Education and Culture. European Comission. (2005). Common European Principles for Teachers Competences and Qualifications. Retrived in January, 23, 2008, from: http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/doc/principles_en.pdf Durand, M., Saury, J., & Veyrunes, P. (2005). Relações fecundas entre pesquisa e formação docente: elementos para um programa. Cadernos de Pesquisa, 35 (125), 37-62. Elliot, J. (2000). La investigación-acción en educación. Madrid: Ediciones Morata. Comission of the European Communities (2007). Improving the Quality of Teacher Education. Retrieved in February, 2, 2008, from: http://ec.europa.eu/education/com392_en.pdf Figueiredo, M. & Roldão, M. C. (2007, September). A study of the research dimension in the curricula of early childhood teacher education in Portugal. Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER 2007), Ghent, Belgium. Gibbons, M., et al. (1994). The new production of knowledge. The dynamics of science and research in contemporary societies. London: SAGE Publications. Kresjler, J. (2005). Professions and their identities: how to explore professional development among (Semi-)Professions. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 49 (3), 335-357. Lüdke, M. (2004). Um estudo sobre as relações entre o professor de educação básica e a pesquisa. Revista Lusófona de Educação, 3, 23-40. Lüdke, M., & Cruz, J. B. (2005). Aproximando universidade e escola de educação básica pela pesquisa. Cadernos de Pesquisa, 35 (125), 81-103. Montero, L. (2005). A construção do conhecimento profissional. Lisboa: Piaget. Nóvoa, A. (2005). Os professores e a sua formação. Lisboa: Dom Quixote/IIE. Nowotny, H., Scott, P., & Gibbons, M. (2001). Re-Thinking Science: Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty. London: Polity Press. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2005). Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers - Final Report: Teachers Matter. OECD. Perrenoud, P. (1993). Práticas pedagógicas, profissão docente e formação. Lisboa: Publicações D. Quixote e IIE. Rodrigues, M. L. (1997). Sociologia das profissões. Oeiras: Celta Editora. Roldão, M. C. (2002). A universitarização da formação de educadores de infância e professores do 1.º ciclo. Infância e educação. Investigação e práticas, 4, 36-41. Roldão, M. C. (2005). Saber educativo e culturas profissionais: contributos para uma construção-desconstrução epistemológica. Conferência proferida no VIII Congresso da Sociedade Portuguesa de Ciências da Educação, Castelo Branco. Roldão, M. C. (2007). Research-based teacher education and reflective practice. Keynote address to the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union Conference “Teacher professional development for the quality and equity of lifelong learning”, Lisbon. Sarmento, M. J. (2004). As culturas de infância nas encruzilhadas da 2.ª modernidade, In M.J. Sarmento, & A. B. Cerisara, (Coord.), Crianças e Miúdos. Perspectivas sociopedagógicas sobre infância e educação (pp. 9-34). Porto: Asa. Schön, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action. N. Y.: Basic Books. Stenhouse, L. (1975). An introduction to curriculum research and development. London: Heinemann. Tardiff, M. (2000). Saberes profissionais dos professores e conhecimentos universitários: elementos para uma epistemologia da prática profissional dos professores e suas conseqüências em relação à formação para o magistério. Revista da Educação, 13, 5-13. Zeichner, K., & Diniz-Pereira, J. E. (2005). Pesquisa dos educadores e formação docente voltada para a transformação social. Cadernos de Pesquisa, 35 (125), 63-80.

Author Information

Maria Pacheco Figueiredo

Polytechnic Institute of Viseu

School of Education

Viseu

174

Gabriela Portugal

University of Aveiro, Portugal

Maria do Céu Roldão

University of Minho, Portugal

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