SUPERVISION AND COLLABORATION MODALITIES IN PORTUGUESE SCHOOLS:

TEACHERS' DISCOURSES AND PRACTICES IN THE TRAINING CONTEXT

Abstract

Within the scope of the National Program for the Promotion of School Success (2016/2018), school clusters in Portugal have drawn up plans contemplating local strategic actions conducive to promoting the success of students' learning. With this objective, supplementary continuous training was provided, to be developed in the work context, adjusted to the needs indicated by the teachers in each organic unit and in convergence with the previously established priorities design. The article presents the conclusions resulting from the qualitative content analysis carried out on sixty reports produced by teachers, in the context of training, in the academic year 2017/2018, with regard to the following dimensions of analysis: representations of supervision and collaboration; supervisory and collaborative practices in use in intermediate school structures - groups, departments and class councils; potentialities and constraints to supervision and collaboration in educational organizations and representations of training in the workplace. The results show the growing disconnection from the concept of supervision of inspection and control actions and its gradual approach to working methods between peers and in collaboration. Teachers' speeches also express the weak presence of supervisory modalities of teaching practice in intermediate structures and the low robustness of teamwork. They also consider that both processes of supervision and collaboration can be presented as strategies that enhance personal and professional development and the fight against professional isolation and loneliness. Teachers perceive the need to change the way school work is organized and value training spaces in context.