Conditions for Socialization with Teaching in Portugal: Analysis of the Training Model and Teacher Trainers

Abstract

Aim. The study focused on initial teacher education and analyzed the model adopted in Portugal, in 2007, in the adaptation to the Bologna Process, as well as the academic and professional profile of teachers who teach initiation to professional practice/supervised teaching practice subjects. This analysis aimed to evaluate if there are conditions favoring sufficient contact with professional situations and socialization with the teaching profession. Method. A critical analysis was applied to the curricular matrix that guides the initial teacher training courses for the twelve-year compulsory education and the documentary analysis of the Curricula Vitae of the 482 teachers who assure these subjects in the 127 existing courses in Portugal. Findings. The training model followed compromises socialization with the profession that allows future teachers to prepare themselves for the complexity of the situations that professional practice presents daily in schools. Although most teachers who teach these subjects are PhDs, they do not always have academic training in education and have few references to professional development and research activities related to the subjects they teach. Conclusions. Considering the importance of initial training to prepare for the exercise of the teaching profession, in the organization of courses, it is justified to pay particular attention to these introductory subjects and the profile of the teachers who teach them.