This paper evaluates the professional development of 24 teachers involved in the Early Childhood Education-CPD Centre for Teachers-University Network (RIECU). Collaborative research-action is carried out with teachers and pupils of Early Childhood Education, an adviser from the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Centre for Teachers, researchers, and teacher training undergraduates from the University of Cordoba (Spain).

Collaborative research-action is considered to be a fundamental tool for the professional development of the teaching profession, facilitating critical reflection on educational practice (Elliott 1993; Liston and Zeichner 1993; Kemmis and McTaggart 1988). On the basis of this understanding, the Early Childhood Education-CPD Centre for Teachers-University Network (hereinafter, RIECU) was constructed. In this network, teachers and pupils of Early Childhood Education work with an adviser from the Continuing Professional Development Centre for Teachers (CEP), researchers and teacher training undergraduates from the University of Cordoba (Spain). The aim is to reflect collaboratively on the application of the Project Approach (hereinafter, PA) in Early Childhood Education classrooms with children aged 3 to 6 years old. The teachers and teacher training undergraduates develop the PA in the classroom. The research team (teacher, teacher training undergraduates, researcher and adviser) analyses and provides critical feedback.

The RIECU network focuses on the questions and problems raised by the teachers, researching and enriching the frameworks they use to interpret and improve their professional performance, as well as the ways of defining and understanding their work (Korthagen 2004; Schön 2002; Zeichner 2005). The intention is not to reproduce the traditional hierarchical relationship between those who consider themselves to be experts in educational matters (university researchers) and those who take on the role of implementing educational innovations in schools (teachers). The aim is to overcome this duality of roles and move towards dialogical learning (Aubert, García and Racionero 2009), based on shared reflection and joint participation in practical experiences.

The PA is chosen as a focus for analysis because it responds to the shared interest of those involved in the network, and because it offers the possibility of applying a model of education centred on pupil activity (Rivière 1999; Rodríguez-Mena 2007), and grounded in socioconstructivist theory of learning (Vygotsky 1978; Wertsch 1988). Educational scenarios are understood as ecological contexts (Brofenbrenner 1979) as well as settings for social interaction (Coll and Onrubia 1996; Edwards and Mercer 1994).

This paper explores the professional development achieved by teachers involved in the RIECU network, according to the opinion of the teachers themselves, the adviser, the researchers, and the university undergraduates.

The RIECU network by providing a framework for the professional development of teachers of Early Childhood Education (through the interaction with fellow colleagues, with teacher training undergraduates and university researchers) can set a reference and be easily implemented by other European Universities once necessary adaptations to the local contexts, are duly carried out. 

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