Abstract:

The Portuguese Modern School Movement (MEM) has been developing a socio-cultural pedagogical model for 60 years, where each class is organized with its teacher as a learning community, supported by cooperation, and where the natural differences of children are assumed as a strong cultural and learning resource. Due to its pedagogical differentiation mechanism, it is pertinent to understand the conceptions of the main stakeholders in a multilevel class, composed of two years of schooling. It should also be noted that in Portugal, although this type of class initially concentrated in rural areas, in recent times they can also be found in large cities.

This research aimed to understand the conceptions of teachers, students, and parents/guardians regarding the teacher's profile, potentialities, and limitations in a multilevel classroom with 2nd and 3rd grade students, governed by the MEM pedagogical model.
To this end, the following specific objectives were identified:
1) To characterize students' conceptions of the teacher, the potentialities and limitations of a multilevel classroom where the Modern School Movement pedagogical model is implemented;
2) To characterize parents/guardians' conceptions of the teacher, the potentialities and limitations of a multilevel classroom where the Modern School Movement pedagogical model is implemented;
3) To characterize teachers' conceptions of the teacher, the potentialities and limitations of a multilevel classroom where the Modern School Movement pedagogical model is implemented.
4) Identify the pedagogical principles and activity modules of the Modern School Movement's pedagogical model that are relevant in a multilevel classroom.

According to the study's objectives, a qualitative methodology was used, implemented through a case study developed in a multilevel classroom at a private school. To characterize the conceptions of students, parents/guardians, and teachers, two mixed questionnaires were developed, one for the students and the other for the parents/guardians. The two teachers of the classroom also underwent two semi-structured individual interviews.

The results show that all participants see potential in this type of class, especially in terms of the cooperation developed. Parents and teachers emphasize the importance of the MEM pedagogical model as a factor that enhances educational success, while students highlight "learning" as the most frequently cited expression in their statements. Autonomous Study Time (TEA) and Cooperative Project Work are the activity modules of the MEM pedagogical model most commonly cited by all participants. The characteristics pointed out by the participants for the teacher who teaches these classes are transversal to the teaching of any class, highlighting only the ability to implement pedagogical differentiation and the organization of the class as a learning community. In terms of limitations, everyone highlights the unproductive combination of the two school years in the same class in some specific situations. Student autonomy ends up being underemphasized by parents, unlike the importance they place on the number of teachers this type of class should have.

Keywords:

Multilevel classroom, Pedagogical Model of the Modern School Movement, 1st Cycle of Elementary Education.