A participação de professores de inglês da rede pública de ensino em um curso de formação contínua

Abstract

This research aims at describing and interpreting the phenomenon of participation of public school English teachers in a continuing education course. It is justified by the need to also understand what involves my own participation in many continuing education courses with the purpose of gathering subsidies that provide me directing, coordinating, supervising, and developing courses of this kind. This research is theoretically grounded on studies about pre-service teacher education (Imbernon, 2000, Vianna, 2004; Martins, 2004, Santos and Mendes Sobrinho, 2006; Gómez, 1995; Mizukami, 2002; Brito, 2006, Contreras, 2002; Brazil, 2002) ; continuing teacher education (Marin, 1995; Mizukami, 2002; Destro, 1995; Contreras, 2002; Smyth, 1991); English teachers education (Celani, 2002; Paiva, 2005; Dutra, 2003, Brazil, 2001, Castro, 1999 ; Celani and Collins, 2003) and concepts of reflection (Schön, 1995, 2000). The methodological approach adopted in this study was the hermeneutic-phenomenological one (van Manen, 1990, Freire, 2007). The description and interpretation of the phenomenon in focus was undertaken through textual registers obtained through questionnaires answered by 57 student-teachers enrolled in a three-semester continuing education course offered to public school English teachers. The research results reveal that participation of public school English teachers in that continuing education courses is unique, since it results in a constant search for improvement and also in change related to practice. The results also allow me to say that the research phenomenon was experienced in three different ways because each semester was played by a different group of student-teachers who was in a different period of the course and into a different reflective moment as well