Conceptualisations of pedagogical contexts and development of appropriate pedagogies
The project aims to support student teachers with their professional development, improve teaching quality and inform revision of education courses in Brazil.
This project is conducted within the Programa Institucional de Bolsa de Iniciação à Docência (PIBID), a national programme in Brazil to promote teacher recruitment and encourage undergraduate students to pursue a career in teaching.
The project investigated the pedagogical experiences of pre-service Portuguese teachers working in state schools located in peripheral urban areas in São Paulo. Specifically, it examined the ways these student teachers conceptualised their practicum contexts and how this informed their development of contextually appropriate pedagogies. The aim was to support student teachers with their professional development, improve the quality of teaching in these contexts, and inform the revision of teacher education programmes in Brazil.
Research questions
- How do pre-service Portuguese teachers conceptualise their pedagogical contexts?
- How does this conceptualisation impact on their pedagogical decision making?
- What contextual and cognitive factors facilitate or hinder the development of contextually appropriate pedagogical knowledge?
Project team
- Dr Hugo Santiago Sanchez
- Dr Livia de Araujo Donnini Rodrigues
- Dr Émerson de Pietri
- Dr Harry Kuchah Kuchah
Research design
The study was exploratory-interpretive in nature and followed a multi-site, multiple-case design. Four cases of individual pre-service teachers were conducted in three different state schools.
The project involved a multimodal approach to data collection, including, where appropriate, an ecological use of methods which were already adopted as part of the PIBID programme.
The final data set was gathered using:
- an autobiographical account (adopting a self-reflection tool called ‘The Tree of Life’)
- a photo-driven interview (based on pictures of the context taken by the participants)
- a teaching experience recall interview with each of the participants
Expected outcomes
Although the case study model precludes generalisation, it is anticipated that the cross-case analysis will yield insights that should lead to transferability of the findings to other practitioners and contexts within and beyond the school settings studied.
The project is expected to:
- support the professional development of pre-service Portuguese teachers
- inform the revision of practicum-based teacher education programmes (those involved in the PIBID scheme)
- support the development of appropriate Portuguese pedagogies for state sector schools
- improve teaching staff recruitment, retention, and motivation in state sector schools
- inform policy making so that it is more responsive to the educational and professional needs of state sector practitioners and schools
- advance our theoretical understanding of pre-service teachers' cognitive development and initial teaching engagement
- open up avenues for further research into the areas of pre-service language teacher education, language teacher cognition, first-language teaching, teaching and learning in difficulties circumstances, critical pedagogies, and context appropriate methodologies