As tecnologias de informação e comunicação, a escola e o professor

: representações e práticas

Abstract

Debates about the implementation of information and communication technologies in education have gained increasing space in the academic world. This is due to the rapid advances in this area, investments in public policies to equip classrooms and to prepare teachers and headtechers for the new challenges they impose. This debate gained even more space with the pandemic caused by COVID-19, which lead teachers and schools to adopt different technologies in distance or blended learning in a short period of time. Although many teachers, headteachers and administrative technicians were not prepared for this change, they tried to find different forms to communicate with students and adopt online teaching systems. The study aims to analyze what teachers think and feel in relation to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education. The study finds theoretical and methodological support in the theory of social representations, idealized by Serge Moscovici (1978, 2001, 2005, 2008). The theory rescues the value of commonsense knowledge about a topic to explain human behavior. For the author, this knowledge, built in everyday conversations, guides human behavior in the face of social issues. Knowing the representations about ICTs makes it possible to understand teaching practices and explain in which cultures, traditions and beliefs they are anchored. A total of 422 teachers from the state education network in Santa Catarina, Brazil (primary education I - 1st cycle in Portugal; primary education II - 2nd and 3rd cycle in Portugal; secondary education - secondary education in Portugal). They participated is a Webinar offered by the Secretary of State for Education on ICTs. This is a qualitative study, with a multifaceted methodology, which seeks to access these representations through an online questionnaire composed of free association of words, metaphors and an image selection test with justifications. The data was analyzed according to the content analysis (Bardin, 1977) and by the Evoc software (Ensemble de Programs Permettant l'analyse des Evocations, version 2000). The results indicate the coexistence of positive and negative elements in the formation of these representations. Innovation is an important element that makes up the central core of representations about ICTs, which contrasts with a feeling of apprehension about the possibilities of their use in teaching practices. This study is associated with the project “Psychosocial perspectives on teaching practice and singularities at school: a cross-cultural analysis Brazil- , coordinated by Profa. Dr. Ariane Lopes da Silva (Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Porto Centre for the Study for Human Development CEDH, FE/UCP - International Center for Studies in Social Representations, Subjectivity education/Ciers-ed Carlos Chagas Foundation). The results of the investigation can contribute to the design of programs and projects for the continuing education of teachers in the field of ICTs.

Date of Award	23 Feb 2022
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Ariane Silva (Supervisor)