Abstract:

Assuming teachers as intellectual professionals (Giroux, 1997) who do research, write, produce and publish knowledge, promoting educational changes in favor of the students, within communities of practice supported by cooperation, is crucial to bridge the gap between research, practice and professional development (Dimmok, 2016). The main objective of this study is to understand the importance of the written dissemination of research processes in the practice and its results, in the form of essays (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993), in the professional development of six teachers from the 1st CEB, within the Portuguese Movement of the Modern School. The following specific objectives were defined: (i) describing the process of writing and reviewing essays; (ii) identifying the types of writing in the essays produced; (iii) characterizing the effects produced by writing and publishing the essays. Taking into account the object of study, a methodology of a qualitative nature was chosen, and the research was organized as a ramified single-case study, the case being a research-training project developed in the Movement of the Modern School, and the sub-cases being the six teachers and their training process. The various data collection processes used include individual semi-structured interviews and Focus Group interviews, based on which we specifically address the participants' perspectives on the essays of the pedagogical practice investigated, published in the journal Escola Moderna. The data collected were analyzed using content analysis. The data suggest that the essays reflect the characteristics of researching about teaching practice, highlighting its intentionality, systematic nature and public character, toward better pedagogical practices, production of professional knowledge and dissemination of knowledge. In this sense, considering the value of the knowledge produced with the essays on the practice investigated, a deeper reflection on the practice investigated is recognized, arising not only from a more enlightened and profound analysis of data, supported in a cooperative way by peers and supervisors, but also from a critical use of theory, such as the need to produce valid knowledge that can be mobilized for others, as a result of the public character of this writing. Thus, the findings show the importance of written dissemination of the research process in teaching practice and its results, in the form of essays, in the professional development of the teachers involved in the study.

Keywords:

Writing in the research process, Research-training, Movement of the Modern School.