Promoting and Investigating Professional Development of Elementary School Teachers: Contributions of a Six-Year Public School-University Collaborative Partnership

This paper describes efforts to promote professional development among Brazilian elementary teachers via a 6-year public school-university partnership, presenting theoretical and methodological frameworks, general research characteristics, and results. Researchers investigated how a constructive-collaborative intervention that examined reflection on teachers' practice in the workplace could be used to improve teaching. Elementary school professionals, university researchers, and subject area specialists collaborated to study teachers' reflections on diverse aspects of education, the teaching profession, and pedagogy. They developed a strategy for promoting and investigating learning and professional development processes. The teaching and learning experiences developed early in the project were diverse and sought to encompass different aspects of teacher work. By the fourth year, the group collectively constructed professional development focused on the school itself. Data were collected via participant observation, interviews, reflective diaries, student materials, school board meeting minutes, oral and written reports, documents, and PTA meetings. Teachers' thinking usually referred more directly to events than conceptual explanations. Some teachers began to base their individual analyses on situations as a whole instead of focusing on details and specifics of each event. The study highlighted the need for time and effective learning opportunities so that teachers could rethink not only their classroom roles, but also their pedagogical practice. (Contains 47 references.) (SM)