Continuing education: reflection on the contributions of technology to teacher professional development
Year: 2025
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The scope of this work is directly related to the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequences of social distancing on the implementation of digital resources in education. As the world struggled to survive the unexpected challenges imposed by safety measures to contain the virus, education had to learn, recycle, and reinvent itself to bridge the gap between teachers, students, and knowledge. The problem of this research originated from the question of how teachers without technological training could instantly adapt to be able to seek and use digital resources as a learning situation proposal and how this can be an opportunity to propose necessary changes and train professionals prepared for the new reality of education. This is an applied research with an exploratory and qualitative approach. It uses the conceptions of Tardif (2014), Marcelo (1999, 2001, 2022), Imbernón (2009, 2010, 2024), Veiga (2007, 2008), Kenski (2012), Moran (2001, 2004, 2015, 2019), among others, as its foundation. For data collection, questionnaires were used with 69 tenured teachers, semi-structured interviews with 7 teachers and 10 managers of a municipal education network in a city in the interior of São Paulo, in addition to documentary analysis of the Political Pedagogical Projects of the schools participating in the research. The analysis was carried out through the methodological proposal of Meaning Cores, based on socio-historical psychology, mainly grounded in Vygotsky (1991; 2000). The results show that although teachers recognize the importance of continuing education for the use of technology in education, their understanding of the effective integration of Digital Information and Communication Technologies (DICTs) into pedagogical practice is still superficial, often limited to using technologies as accessory tools rather than didactic-pedagogical elements. The analysis of the training offered by the REM revealed a disconnection between theory and practice, hindering the implementation of active methodologies and the optimized use of available technological resources. It was also found that the excessive bureaucratic load and the lack of proficiency with DICTs, among many teachers and managers, as well as the students themselves, represent barriers to pedagogical innovation. The analysis of the meaning cores "The role of technology for and in teacher professional qualification," "Challenges of teaching in current scenarios," and "Processes and setbacks in human and professional teacher development" deepened the understanding of the difficulties faced by teachers and the possibilities for intervention in continuing education for effective integration of technology into pedagogical practice.
Author: Maia, Fernanda Jardim [UNESP]
Language: Portuguese
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7120731086