Abstract:

Supervision in the pedagogical practice of teachers is one of the drivers of the (re)configuration of the teaching professionality, as it is an important moment of accompaniment, orientation and reflection, from which the teacher is trained to successfully face the challenges inherent to the teaching and educational contexts of our glocal and plural society, which is constantly changing due to the needs and dynamics of the social, business and governmental network.

There are several studies that focus on the supervision of pedagogical practice in the initial and continuous formation of teachers, but few have made important contributions to the understanding and improvement of the processes of post-initial and continuous formation, especially those processes that imply a reconfiguration of teacher competences for school years and levels of education different from those for which their initial education prepared them.

The main aim of this article is to present a study on the role of training and supervision in the reconstruction of teaching professionality in the context of the pilot project “PEPPA 6/7 - Primary English Practice Programme for Ages 6/7”, which aims to integrate the English subject within the curriculum of the 1st and 2nd grades of schools in Porto area, Portugal, by following paths which are different from the ones that English in the 3rd and 4th years followed. In fact, within the curricular English of 3rd and 4th years, one has to highlight the lack of collaboration among generalist and specialist (language) teachers and the preference towards more summative assessment procedures.

In this context, the main corpus of our work will focus, on the one hand, on the analysis of the representations of teachers of English curriculum of the 1st and 2nd years of school on the supervisory dynamics, strategies and instruments and their contributions in the reconfiguration of teaching professionality as English teachers in the 3rd and 4th grades. Taking into account an ethnographic methodological perspective with action research outlines, the study focuses on the analysis of teachers' representations about the dynamics and implemented supervisory strategies, having several data collection tools been used:
a) questionnaire on the socio-biographical and professional profile of teachers and their relationship with languages, their cultures and their learning;
b) questionnaire / final critical reflection on the complementary training course for teaching English in the 1st and 2nd years of schooling;
c) questionnaires to describe teachers' knowledge of the most effective supervisory practices based on self-regulation and critical (hyper)pedagogy;
d) the creation of teaching units and projects.

Results show that the teachers have changed their professionalism in the intercultural, collaborative, and pedagogical dimensions, catering for the cognitive, emotional and social development of their pupils.

Keywords:

Primary English, Curricular Innovation, Supervision, Teacher Professionalty.