Citizenship in Teachers’ Narratives in Continuous Training - An Exploratory Study

Author(s):

Fernando Rodrigues Silva(presenting / submitting)Leanete Teresinha Thomas Dotta

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 12 A, Narratives and Quality Profiles in Teacher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-05

09:00-10:30

Room:

B217 Sala de Aulas

Chair:

Peter Gray

Contribution

Citizenship is a juridical-legal concept and also a socio-historical phenomenon. Citizenship conceptualising implies the recognition that the concept itself is in dispute, in view of the capitalism contradictions in continuing the civilisation process of human rights universalisation.

Citizenship changes according to epochs, countries and traditions and it is not homogeneous, encompassing several dimensions, which may be contradictory. Amongst the elements in citizenship there is citizen competence. Any citizen must possess certain competences to intervene in a democratic space in order to be heard, to defend his own interests and those of his group, which gives individual development a high degree of complexity, since it implies learning the practice of rights (Dubet, 2011).

The formation of citizenship is a matter of principles and values although it makes part of the form of schooling itself, of the way to operate learnings, of a discipline system, of a set of rules. It became consensual - or at least increasingly proclaimed – that he highest ideal of the school education action should be the preparation for citizenship and the formation of an ethical and solidary conduct. So, the role of public school is crucial in education for citizenship: public school welcomes everyone; it is an integral part of democratic life.

The education of fundamental values for public life cannot merely consist on transmitting information, such as the Declaration of Human Rights content or the Constitution principles. The possession of such information can play a key role in the development of concepts and practices related to education for citizenship; however, its mere thematisation does not guarantee an educational action linked to those values. Nor does it inevitably lead to students’ accession to a way of life based on them. Contrarily, it is not uncommon that the democratic rhetoric to which students are exposed is accompanied by acts of discrimination and exclusion. School may ultimately contribute to maintaining a gap between the proclamation of citizenship and its implementation.

Ethical dimension is a fundamental principle of citizenship and is tied to judgments of value that will determine the course of individual and collective autonomy in society. Although social change cannot be exclusively assigned to school, the reflection on pedagogical practice, the responsibility of the teachers and the organization of the specificities of educational routine have a crucial role on the development of citizenship, as consciousness, based on ethical and political grounds, should also be formed at school, which cannot evade its share of commitment in building a better humanity (Freire, 1996). Teachers should have critical knowledge, which means to consider that the elements that make up citizenship fit not only the student, but must first be part of the identity of each teacher when proposing to educate (PIMENTA; GHEDIN, 2002).

The objective of this exploratory study is based on knowing the narratives about citizenship and the impact of a continuous training course, from a group of teachers in a Portuguese public schools cluster. Methodologically, narratives were used and were simultaneously understood as a phenomenon and method, for their potential to promote understanding of what happens with the subjects, which subjectivates them and makes them be and act as such. They are human stories that assign meaning, significance and purpose to the practices and experiences, arising from the interpretation of who is speaking or writing (Clandinin and Connelly, 1995). The narratives imply reflection that implies learning and teaching. Learning because the narrative organizes ideas, explores the experiences, gives them meaning, so new learning comes forward. Teaching, because the other one, facing the narrative and the experiences and knowledge of a co-worker, can (re)define his own knowledge and experiences.

Method

The use of narrative, simultaneously understood as a phenomenon and a method, is justified because it is a research approach based on the idea that scientific knowledge must be generated forth from reality and improves people’s lives (Suárez-Ortega, 2013), which means that human experience is translated by narratives. On most branches of social sciences there is a common recognition of narratives as the most likely means of capturing the contingencies of human experience when lived through a given time and context (Craig, 2007). Written and spoken narratives were produced over the course of a Continuous Training Action (CTA), which happened at a school cluster, in May of 2013, on the theme "Education for citizenship: what contributions?”. The CTA lasted 25 hours that were spread over 8 sessions, credited by the Scientific-Pedagogical Council of Continuous Training, granting the right to a credit for career progression. The authors of this article were the teacher trainers. All participants of the CTA - 28 teachers and a psychologist - configured themselves as the study subjects. The teachers, women (24), were teaching: 1st stage primary education (9), 2nd stage primary education (5), secondary education (4), basic/secondary education (7), special education (2). The overall goal of the CTA was to produce knowledge with teachers on citizenship within the school context, which initially implied understanding the teachers’ knowledge on the theme, presenting and discussing theoretical concepts, promoting participation experiences in group dynamics, always in a collaborative and participative perspective, and at the end making a reflexive, dialogical synthesis of the theme. The analysed data resulted from the written and spoken narratives of the participant teachers and observations made by trainers, from the following: lecture sessions; b) presentation of thematic work (individual/group); c) lectures among learners on the analysed topic, allowing reading complementarities, perspectives diversification and sharing of personal experiences; d) analysis of potential conflict situations, which could have fictional origin (based and focused on videos within educational context and simulations proposed and performed by the trainees) or real origin (experiences, preferably autobiographical, resulting from the school contexts in which they are inserted); e) construction of material devices and development of projects; f) creation of Action Plans to improve personal and professional skills; g) analysis, discussion and final reflection. Most activities were run in groups that initially performed reflections in small groups, whose syntheses were subsequently shared with the large group, resulting in a new moment of reflection.

Expected Outcomes

The narratives analysis was performed from the productions of the groups that were early formed in the Training Action, so the results are presented taking groups as a guideline along with an emphasis on changes in citizenship concept, discussed in the context of the meetings dynamics, as a result of reflections, made by participants in interaction with colleagues and trainers: Group 1: initially, citizenship in school was defined as "participation." Finally, it was linked to the ideas of "mutual aid," "understanding," "belonging," “democracy "and" acceptance of others.” Group 2: appears linked to "respect". Lastly, it is centered on the concepts of "equality," "democracy," "protection," "tolerance," "truth," "transparency", "dialogue", "progress", "education", "training", "human rights", "pluralism”, “ethics", "building links", "captivating", "giving without expecting to receive", "civility", "serenity”, “weighting", "peace", "courtesy", "authenticity", "assertiveness" and "unus et alterum (socius)." Group 3: emerges linked to "human rights", "duties" and "education". Later, it expands to "duties," "human rights," "life in community", "tolerance", "justice", "society", "humanity", "justice", "solidarity", "values", "participation" and "critical thinking". Group 4: appears linked to "education for citizenship" and "social cognition". Then, it focuses on "citizenship at school", "freedom", "solidarity", "peace", "justice", "equality", "values", "duties", "rights" and "volunteering". Group 5: comes together with "sharing", "respect", "friendship" and "education". Later, it moves to "understanding", "rules", "responsibility", "participation", "attitude", "equality", "weighting", "tolerance", "dignity" and "dialogue." Group 6: comes attached to "respect", "education", "justice" and "solidarity." At the end it focuses on "assertiveness", "civility", "values", "rules", "attitudes", "laws" and "rules". Data analysis allowed registering changes between initial and final narratives. Noteworthy are the ones that valued sharing, interpersonal relationship and knowledge orientation, which are useful to the organization and building of a personal and social citizenship essential to building a cohesive, responsible society that is able to make use of rights and duties in a democratic way.

References

Abrunhosa, S. M. L. C. (2008). Primary Education teachers' conceptions on Education for Citizenship. Teacher’s competences within the transversal approach to citizenship education. Master Thesis in Educational Sciences. College of Psychology and Educational Sciences. Lisbon. Almeida, M. E. M. (2011). Education for Peace in the teaching of Natural Sciences. Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Braga. Alves, M. P. & Flores, M. A. (Org.) (2010). Teaching work, training and evaluation. Clarifying concepts, substantiating practices. Pedago Editions. Mangualde. Araújo, S. A. (2008). Contributions to a citizenship education: teachers and students in an intercultural context. Master Thesis in Intercultural Relations. Ministry of Education Editorial (No. 17). Lisbon. Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (1995). Teachers’ professional knowledge landscapes. In J. F. Soltis (Ed.), Advances in contemporary educational thought series. New York: Teachers College Press. Craig, C. J. (2007). Story Constellations: A Narrative Approach to Contextualizing Teachers' Knowledge of School Reform. Teaching & Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, 23(2), 173-188. Dubet, François. (2011). Crossed mutations: citizenship and school. Brazilian Magazine of Education, 16(47), 289-305. Accessed on January 25, 2014, from http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1413-24782011000200002&lng=en&tlng=pt. 10.1590/S1413-24782011000200002. Flores, M. A. & Viana, I. C. (2007). Teacher Professionalism in Transition: Teachers’ Identities in times of change. CIEd Notebooks. Braga. Formosinho, J. (coord.) (2009). Teachers Training. Professional learning and teaching action. Porto Editora. Porto. Freire, P. R. Education as a freedom practice.22.ed. São Paulo: Paz e Terra, 1996. Perrenoud, P. (2008). The Reflective Practice in Teacher craft. Professionalisation and Pedagogic Reason. Artmed. Porto Alegre. Brazil. Pimenta, S. G; Ghedin, E. (Orgs) Reflective teacher in Brazil: Genesis and concept review. 2.ed. São Paulo: Cortez, 2002. Pureza, J. M. M. S. (coord.) (2001). Citizenship Education: General and Technological Courses - 2. Ministry of Education. Department of Secondary Education. Lisbon. Quisumbing, L. R. (2002). Citizenship education for better world societies: A Holistic Approach. 8th UNESCO APEID International Conference on Education. Bangkok. Santos, M. E. B. (coord.) (2010). Citizenship Education - Curricular Proposal for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles... -. Ministry of Education. General Direction of Innovation and Curricular Development. Suárez-Ortega, M. (2013). Performance, Reflexivity, and Learning Through Biographical-Narrative Research. Qualitative Inquiry, 19(3), 189-200. Doi: 10.1177/1077800412466223.

Author Information

Fernando Rodrigues Silva (presenting / submitting)

Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias

CeiEF

Vila Nova de Gaia

Leanete Teresinha Thomas Dotta

Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto, Portugal

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.