Abstract:

The teachers training has a long tradition in Portugal, since the creation of the Normal Schools until the publication of the Basic Education Law, which received a broad consensus in Portuguese society (Law 46/86 of October 14, namely article 35). In the context of continuing education, some changes took place, being relevant what occurred with Decree-Law no. 127/2015, of July 7 for the present work, which establishes the Legal Regime of Schools Association Formation Centers (SAFC), within which the Training and Monitoring Section (TMS) is created.

With the publication of Decree-Law no. 127/2015, namely in article 11 and 12, which defines the SAFC direction and management structures, the Training and Monitoring Section assumes an important role in the coordination, pedagogical supervision and follow-up of the training plan and activities of the CFAE. Reflecting this structure the training plans of each of the associated schools, represented by the head of the school grouping for the training plan.

According to Barroso and Canário (1999), SAFC play a fundamental role in the contextualization of continuing teacher education, constituting a "school-centered" training mechanism and assuming as relevant the establishment of teaching as a founder of needs and professional contexts as privileged field of professional development.

In this research, we aim to understand the role of TMS and its contributions to the development of educational projects of the school grouping and the monitoring of training plans. Thus, we opted by a quantitative approach, supported by a questionnaire survey (n = 170), structured in a set of open and closed questions in google forms, sent to the elements of the monitoring and evaluation section, for further statistical treatment with SPSS and content analysis.

Keywords:

Teacher training, training needs, continuing professional development.