COLLABORATION BETWEEN STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE ACTIVITY OF GATA IN THE EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY OF ESE P.PORTO

Abstract

The main aim of GATA - Academic Work Support Group of the Porto School of Education - is to create socialization conditions that allow students to develop their academic (and professional) skills in close relation with peers and teachers. In this text, we disclose some of the initiatives promoted by the group, emphasizing their importance for the educational community in which a collaborative approach inspired by participatory action research is considered fundamental. An approach that favors the daily life, social, educational, and cultural journeys of students, as a possibility for involvement in various group activities, within the context where they undergo their studies. Following in the footsteps of John Dewey, this approach helps to create a framework that promotes more robust and meaningful learning experiences by recognizing the students’ journeys as fundamental to the enhancement of their academic skills. We assume that the processes of personal and professional education need to be established as dynamics that encourage students’ curiosity, promote skills for analyzing reality, and recognize the possibility of reconstructing knowledge that values interactions and mutual support. From the work developed, we highlight: i) academic writing workshops; ii) promotion of peer tutoring; iii) debates in scientific meetings; iv) pedagogical reflection involving students and teachers; v) publication of articles and books in co-authorship; vi) the 1st GATA Seminar as a space for sharing work developed by students from different courses.