Professores e contextos de trabalho

: como se tece a ação docente numa escola em mudança

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe, analyze and interpret teachers’ professional cultures in a department of languages, within the changing background of a secondary public school. The changes in educational policies, the new model of school management, post-modern agendas and rapid social change have been producing strong effects on how teachers face their professionalism. School culture and teachers’ work are being shaped by the pressures of accountability, increased bureaucracy and excessive school directives. Taking as reference four professional cultures described by Hargreaves: individualism, collaboration, collegiality and balkanization, we tried to understand how teachers are adapting to these changes and the reasons behind soaring teacher burnout and their identity crisis. We have adopted a research methodology centered in a case study, in a naturalistic approach of qualitative nature. Providing a common space for joint reflection in a focus group, we tried to find out what teachers think about their school’s culture and its impact on their work environment. In order to obtain a multi-focused view of the field studied, we interviewed the head of department, group leaders and the school’s direction board. We complemented research with documental analysis and we held data triangulation, which allowed us to confirm information, detect inconsistencies and enhance confidence in the data collected. We realized that the pressure of performativity has a significant impact on how teachers work and interact but it is not producing visible improvement in the quality of teaching processes and learning outcomes. As individualism and balkanization increase, collaboration and forced collegiality are (re)construed by teachers in schools, in an attempt to fit in the new educational backdrops. This puts forward the need for teachers to engage in spontaneous collaborative environments in order to boost teacher empowerment and reinforce their professional identity.

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