Learning a profession in cooperation: the early childhood teacher’s training process

Abstract

This text is a result of a post-doctoral research carried out at the University of Évora - Portugal, and aims to discuss the Training of Early Childhood Teachers in a context of cooperation among professors, school cooperating teachers and interns of the Master Course in Pre-school Education at the University of Évora. The guiding question lay in analysing how the triad professor, school cooperating teacher and student teacher contributes to the professional development of teachers. The data collection resulted from the students’ writings about their practicum; the observations of their practice with three to six-years-old children; the supervision of the practicum (Supervised Teaching Practice); interviews with the research participants; and the analysis of documents that guide the training of early childhood teachers at the University of Évora, such as the practicum regulations and the Master's Program in Pre-School Education. Six participants were directly involved, namely: two professors; two cooperating teachers; two student teachers. The results revealed a commitment to the quality of teacher education, the ability to work together, especially the relevance of cooperation between university, school and interns in creating objective conditions for the construction of the teaching profession focused on early childhood education.