Processos de mudança como possibilidade de desenvolvimento profissional

: uma narração biográfica

Abstract

Professional development is a process that involves learning, change and professional growth. The professional development of teachers is understood to be an individual and collective process, which takes place in the teacher’s workplace, the school, and that contributes to the development of their professional skills, through both formal and informal experiences, during a long-term process, and in which different kinds of opportunities and experiences occur which promote the teacher’s growth and development (Marcelo, 2009). The following report aims to highlight the relevance and the implications of the openness to a change of practices, of the processes leading to the emergence of innovation and the appearance of a collaborative culture within context of professional development. In a style of a biographical narrative, a report was made of significant professional experiences, that occurred in a stage of a professional career following the change from a private school, with seventy-five years of existence, to a new school, also privately owned, but newly founded and that bets on the ability to innovate and take on an identity of its own, based on the legacy of an Ignatian pedagogy. Personal experience and professional integration in this new school’s board of directors is crucial when it comes to characterizing this professional career stage and is proving to be a remarkable professional development experience. The possibility of direct participation in the planning of the means to enable the school to adapt to the implementation of new strategies for curriculum development and other innovative aspects of the practice of teaching and school management, the personal involvement within the emergence of a collaborative culture, the monitoring and exchange of experiences with teachers, resulting in more confidence and a reduction of uncertainties, reveals itself to be memorable at this stage of a professional career, through the involvement, as a teacher, in different cognitive, affective and relational aspects of this profession. The meeting of conditions conducive to the creation and sustainability of an innovative work environment, both challenging and productive identifies itself as an opportunity to cultivate knowledge and professional growth.

Date of Award	2012
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	José Matias Alves (Supervisor)