Fernando Ilídio Ferreira

Reformas educativas, formação e subjectividades dos professores

ABSTRACT In the context of the educational reforms initiated in Portugal in the 1980s, the in-service training of teachers experienced a significant increase, associated both with strong financial backing from the European Union and a logic of supply and demand induced by a legal framework which established a link between training and career progression. This article defends the position that this increase found no equivalence in the transformation of conceptions and practices of training, and even generated an opposing logic to the participatory and emancipatory principles of adult education. Teacher training has predominantly developed as a reflection of the formal and academic model of schooling and influenced by policies of rationalization of educational reforms. In the first sections of this article, the effects of these logics on teacher subjectivities are analysed. Later, alternative conceptions of training are dealt with, considering in-service teacher training in a perspective of adult education and presupposing, in this way, a different relationship between teachers and training.

Education and child poverty in times of austerity in Portugal: implications for teachers and teacher education

Abstract In recent years Portugal has experienced a severe financial and economic crisis, with implications for all sectors of society, particularly education. Salary cuts, high rates of unemployment, high taxation and worsening career progression are just some ways in which the teaching profession has been affected. Recent policy changes have also impacted on initial teacher education. This paper gives a brief characterisation of the emerging picture within the context of crisis, drawing on data from continuing research on the effects of poverty on teaching and teacher education. It looks at student teachers’ experiences during practicum in regard to issues of poverty at school, as well as the ways in which poverty is framed and discussed during their initial teacher preparation. Key findings point to student teachers’ perceptions about poverty and its impact on children’s well-being and equal opportunities; the strategies they employ to deal with poverty at school; and the complex role of the teacher in promoting equity and social justice through facilitating access to powerful knowledge for all children. Implications for teacher education are discussed, particularly the need to foster social and cultural dimensions of teacher education.

A questão social, o Estado e o mito redentor da acção local: lógicas e tensões presentes nas políticas e no trabalho social

Resumo: Este artigo analisa e confronta diferentes logicas e tensoes que caracterizam a questao social nas sociedades contemporâneas. Em termos teoricos, discute as transformacoes do Estado, as politicas de descentralizacao e contratualizacao e a emergencia de uma ideologia reticular (da organizacao em rede e em parceria), tendo em conta a sua influencia na criacao de uma especie de mito redentor em torno da accao local. Apresenta tambem resultados de uma investigacao etnografica realizada num municipio rural do norte de Portugal que revelam algumas tensoes que enfrentam actualmente as politicas e o trabalho social, nomeadamente, entre a natureza societal e estrutural dos problemas e a intervencao pontual e individualizada das intervencoes profissionais que manifestam, frequentemente, dilemas entre logicas de ajuda e de controlo social.

Educational reforms, training and teacher subjectivities

ABSTRACT In the context of the educational reforms initiated in Portugal in the 1980s, the in-service training of teachers experienced a significant increase, associated both with strong financial backing from the European Union and a logic of supply and demand induced by a legal framework which established a link between training and career progression. This article defends the position that this increase found no equivalence in the transformation of conceptions and practices of training, and even generated an opposing logic to the participatory and emancipatory principles of adult education. Teacher training has predominantly developed as a reflection of the formal and academic model of schooling and influenced by policies of rationalization of educational reforms. In the first sections of this article, the effects of these logics on teacher subjectivities are analysed. Later, alternative conceptions of training are dealt with, considering in-service teacher training in a perspective of adult education and presupposing, in this way, a different relationship between teachers and training.

Reformas educativas, formación y subjetividades de los profesores

ABSTRACT In the context of the educational reforms initiated in Portugal in the 1980s, the in-service training of teachers experienced a significant increase, associated both with strong financial backing from the European Union and a logic of supply and demand induced by a legal framework which established a link between training and career progression. This article defends the position that this increase found no equivalence in the transformation of conceptions and practices of training, and even generated an opposing logic to the participatory and emancipatory principles of adult education. Teacher training has predominantly developed as a reflection of the formal and academic model of schooling and influenced by policies of rationalization of educational reforms. In the first sections of this article, the effects of these logics on teacher subjectivities are analysed. Later, alternative conceptions of training are dealt with, considering in-service teacher training in a perspective of adult education and presupposing, in this way, a different relationship between teachers and training.