The challenges of initial teachers and educators training and action-research: insights from praxis

Abstract

In Portugal, during the last decade, the training of educators and teachers has undergone several changes, increasing the research component associated with teaching practice. The premise of developing a connecting study between practice and research associated with practice, present in the Supervised Teaching Practice (PES in Portuguese) report, forced students into direct contact with research methods and techniques. This qualitative, exploratory study analyzed the declarative designs of the studies carried out by the students in their PES reports and the congruence with the research associated with their teaching practices. One hundred and eighty PES II reports from a Higher Education Institution were analyzed. These reports were carried out in the Master in Pre-School Education. The documentary analysis focused on: the declared research design; congruence between design and presentation of point to the prevalence of case studies, although there is no consistency between the declared design and the presentation of the results. As conclusions, this study highlights time constraints pointed out by students as a factor for not opting for action-research, although they recognize added value for this option both in their training and in their professional development, valuing research and reflection processes associated with their praxis.