Towards Empowerment: Narrative Study of Counselling Psychology Trainees and How They Make Sense of Their Personal and Professional Development in the Context of Their Past Experiences

The discipline of counselling psychology continues to grow and change in response to social, economic and political pressures. It has been argued that its quest for a coherent and distinct identity, which emphasises the possibility of the coexistence of multiple approaches, creates an inherently uncertain and dilemmatic training environment that may hinder the development of trainees’ professional identities. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the issue at hand, the aim was to explore how final year trainees and newly qualified counselling psychologists constructed and made sense of their emerging professional identities and what experiences, past and present, they drew upon in the context of their training to shape those identities. Applying narrative inquiry to analyse eight open-ended interviews, eight preliminary themes were originally identified in participants’ narratives, which with further refinements lead to stories of struggle and marginalisation, growth and discovery, and power and resilience. Participants’ stories of struggle and marginalisation emerged in reference to early family dynamics and stressful life experiences, which seemed to also foster a strong identification with the counselling psychology profession, while stories of growth and discovery focused on the importance of having supportive figures, who helped to instill a sense of security and create an atmosphere of openness. It was in this learning environment that participants felt it was possible to develop a more resilient, empowered professional self, which allowed them to shed an earlier sense of struggle and vulnerability. However, where more of an emphasis was placed on power and resilience, there seemed to be less room for participants to express other feelings that came into conflict with their preferred sense of professional self. While there seems to be a need for a ‘safer’ climate, in which trainees could voice and acknowledge anxieties, vulnerabilities and limitations, addressing concerns around power and vulnerability that may be contributing to the silencing of particular voices and identities may be equally important if trainees are to develop coherent and distinct counselling psychologist identities.

An Assessment of Professional Development for Astronomy and Physics Faculty: Expanding Our Vision of How to Support Faculty's Learning About Teaching

In this thesis, we will explore approaches to faculty instructional change in astronomy and physics. We primarily focus on professional development (PD) workshops, which are a central mechanism used within our community to help faculty improve their teaching. Although workshops serve a critical role for promoting more equitable instruction, we rarely assess them through careful consideration of how they engage faculty. To encourage a shift towards more reflective, research-informed PD, we developed the Real-Time Professional Development Observation Tool (R-PDOT), to document the form and focus of faculty's engagement during workshops. We then analyze video-recordings of faculty's interactions during the Physics and Astronomy New Faculty Workshop, focusing on instances where faculty might engage in pedagogical sense-making. Finally, we consider insights gained from our own local, team-based effort to improve a course sequence for astronomy majors. We conclude with recommendations for PD leaders and researchers.

Teacher perceived difficulty in implementing differentiated instructional strategies in primary school

This study analyses teacher perceived difficulty in implementing differentiated instructional strategies in regular classes. The participants were 273 Portuguese primary school teachers with teaching experience ranging from 1 to 33 years. A 39-item questionnaire was used to evaluate teacher perceived difficulty in relation to different instructional strategies. Teacher responses were factor analysed and five different domains were identified: (1) activities and materials; (2) assessment; (3) management; (4) planning and preparation; and (5) classroom environment. Results showed that with the exception of the classroom environment domain, all the instruction practices in the remaining domains were considered to be difficult. In particular, the most difficult practices were under the domain of activities and materials and were associated with the adaptation of curricular elements (content, process, and product) based on student characteristics (readiness, interest, and learning profiles). The results also revealed a strong association between the activities and materials domain and the assessment domain. Some implications of these findings for initial teacher training and teacher professional development programmes are discussed.

Professional development programs in health promotion : tools and processes to favor new practices

Developing innovative interventions that are in sync with a health promotion paradigm often represents a challenge for professionals working in local public health organizations. Thus, it is critical to have both professional development programs that favor new practices and tools to examine these practices. In this case study, we analyze the health promotion approach used in a pilot intervention addressing children’s vulnerability that was developed and carried out by participants enrolled in a public health professional development program. More specifically, we use a modified version of Guichard and Ridde’s (Une grille d’analyse des actions pour lutter contre les inégalités sociales de santé. In Potvin, L., Moquet, M.-J. and Jones, C. M. (eds), Réduire les Inégalités Sociales en Santé. INPES, Saint-Denis Cedex, pp. 297– 312, 2010) analytical grid to assess deductively the program participants’ use of health promotion practices in the analysis and planning, implementation, evaluation, sustainability and empowerment phases of the pilot intervention. We also seek evidence of practices involving (empowerment, participation, equity, holism, an ecological approach, intersectorality and sustainability) in the intervention. The results are mixed: our findings reveal evidence of the application of several dimensions of health promotion (equity, holism, an ecological approach, intersectorality and sustainability), but also a lack of integration of two key dimensions; that is, empowerment and participation, during various phases of the pilot intervention. These results show that the professional development program is associated with the adoption of a pilot intervention integrating multiple but not all dimensions of health promotion. We make recommendations to facilitate a more complete integration. This research also shows that the Guichard and Ridde grid proves to be a thorough instrument to document the practices of participants.

The educational problem that MOOCs could solve: professional development for teachers of disadvantaged students

The demographics of massive open online course (MOOC) analytics show that the great majority of learners are highly qualified professionals, and not, as originally envisaged, the global community of disadvantaged learners who have no access to good higher education. MOOC pedagogy fits well with the combination of instruction and peer community learning found in most professional development. A UNESCO study therefore set out to test the efficacy of an experimental course for teachers who need but do not receive high-quality continuing professional development, as a way of exploiting what MOOCs can do indirectly to serve disadvantaged students. The course was based on case studies around the world of information and communication technology (ICT) in primary education and was carried out to contribute to the UNESCO “Education For All” goal. It used a co-learning approach to engage the primary teaching community in exploring ways of using ICT in primary education. Course analytics, forums and participant surveys demonstrated that it worked well. The paper concludes by arguing that this technology has the power to tackle the large-scale educational problem of developing the primary-level teachers needed to meet the goal of universal education.

Inserção profissional: os desafios nos primeiros anos de ensino

A problemática da inserção profissional dos novos professores tem sido largamente estudada sob várias perspetivas das quais destacamos, as dificuldades enfrentadas no início do seu desempenho como docentes (Alen y Sardi, 2009) Krichesky y Merodo (2009), o vinculo entre inserção e identidade profissional (Martineau y Portelance, 2005), o desenvolvimento da competência ética nos novos professores (St. Vincent 2011) e as trajetórias de emprego, entre outras.Os resultados destas pesquisas têm revelado o tipo de problemas enfrentados pelos novos professores à entrada na carreira docente e confirmado que nem todos os percursos se iniciam de modo tranquilo e sereno. É esta a problemática que serve de base ao objeto de estudo desta dissertação, pretendendo-se mais precisamente, centrar a nossa pesquisa no percurso profissional de seis professores diplomados pela Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa há dois anos. O objetivo geral do estudo é, assim, descrever e compreender o desenvolvimento profissional desses professores, identificar as dimensões mais relevantes, os fatores que o condicionam e os contextos que o limitam ou facilitam. Tendo em conta o objeto de estudo identificaram-se as seguintes questões: 1) Quais as implicações da formação inicial no desempenho da profissão? 2) Quais as principais dificuldades / problemas com que se defrontaram os novos professores na inserção na profissão?; 3) Como atuam os professores principiantes?; O que mudam nas suas práticas, o que perdura?; 4) Como se incrementa o sentimento de pertença ao novo grupo profissional?; 5) Quais as particularidades dos contextos de trabalho em que estes professores se encontram integrados que se revelam facilitadoras e/ou constrangedoras da sua inserção profissional? Para o efeito recorremos a uma metodologia qualitativa, e privilegiámos como técnica de recolha de dados a entrevista semiestruturada. Para o tratamento dos dados sustentámo-nos na análise de conteúdo seguindo os passos recomendados para a análise de conteúdo (Bardin, 2009). Os resultados do estudo permitiram identificar os constrangimentos experimentados por estes professores à entrada da profissão, assim como os modos como os ultrapassaram. Destes, destacam-se dificuldades relacionadas com a falta de autonomia, com aspetos de natureza metodológica, ao nível da organização e desenvolvimento curricular e de relacionamento com os elementos da direção das instituições nos contextos de trabalho.Abstract The issue of employability of new teachers has been widely studied from various perspectives. Research has revealed the sort of problems faced by new teachers at the beginning of their career. It confirms that frequently it is not a peaceful and serene start. We highlight the following difficulties: the link between integration and professional identity (Alen y Sardi, 2009; Krichesky y Merodo, 2009), the development of ethical competence in new teachers (y Portelance Martineau, 2005), and the professional path (St. Vincent 2011). This is the hypothesis explored in this thesis. Specifically, we focus our research on the career of six graduate teachers by the Lisbon School of Education. The main objective is to describe and understand the professional development of these teachers. For that we identify the most relevant dimensions, the factors that constrain and contexts that limit or facilitate their development. A qualitative methodology was used throughout the study. Semi structured interviews were the main data collection process. Data treatment followed the recommended framework for content analysis (Bardin, 2009). The following research questions were put forward: 1) What are the impacts of base level of knowledge in the professional performance? 2) What are the main difficulties / problems that new teachers face? 3) How do novice teachers perform? What changes in their methods, what endures? 4) What increases the feeling of belonging to the new professional group? 5) What are the peculiarities of work contexts that act as facilitators and/or barriers to professional acceptance? The results allowed identifying the constraints experienced by teachers at the beginning of their careers, and the ways to surpass them. We highlight the difficulties related to: lack of autonomy; methodologies; curricular organization and development; and the relationship with the directors at their workplace.

Avaliação do desempenho docente : o papel da supervisão e as competências dos professores avaliadores

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências da Educação - Especialização em Supervisão em Educação

Perspetivas dos professores do 1º ciclo sobre a supervisão no processo de avaliação de desempenho e os seus efeitos no desenvolvimento profissional

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ciências da Educação, especialização Supervisão em Educação

Da formação inicial à inserção na profissão

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa Para a obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Ciências da Educação - Especialidade Supervisão em Educação

Dificuldades sentidas pelos professores à entrada da profissão

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação para a obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Ciências da Educação, especialidade em Supervisão em Educação

O desenvolvimento profissional docente: a função supervisiva do coordenador de ano do 1º ciclo

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ciências da Educação, especialidade de Supervisão em Educação