Um estudo sobre o perfil dos professores de Matemática da Rede Municipal de Contagem-MG

Abstract

This study is an investigation realized with the mathematics teachers of the Municipal Education System of Contagem city and who are participants of the Program of Formation Continued in service, offered by the Municipal Department of Education, in this year, 2011. The objective of this investigation was to raise the profile of this professional according to the requirements of the current society. In the opening remarks, the choice of the subject was justified, by describing our professional trajectory and by describing the reasons which have led us to investigate this particular group of teachers. The first chapter presented the context of the research and the used methodology. In the following, the study exposed the theoretical references and the abilities and the principles expected from the teachers regarding the ideas of Perrenoud (2000), Lorenzato (2006) and the didactic guidelines of the National Curricular Parameters (1997, 1998). It was put focus on items which are believed to evidence innovating practices and that are based on principles which privilege the construction of the mathematical knowledge, the significant, reflexive and interdisciplinary learning, which values the interaction student-student and student-teacher. As a research tool, an on-line questionnaire was used by means of an applicative available in the Google Docs and it was sent to the investigated by e-mail. The collected data had been analyzed and organized in graphs and tables for a better visualization. The research allowed verifying the significant presence of the feminine sex in the investigated group and the predominance of experienced and steady professionals in the career. It was evidenced, also, that all teachers have formation on graduation level, the majority have some type of post-graduate studies and participated of continued education courses in the last two years. The data evidenced the long working hours of the majority of the professionals, who accumulate two or three turns, which explains the information collected on the few time dedicated to the planning of the lessons, the reading, the research and the group discussions. The investigated teachers affirm to use diverse pedagogical and technological resources at different moments of the didactic sequence, what raises new questions, because the data on the use of the didactic book, on the organization of the space and on the learning evaluation indicates a conventional practice. At last, the research indicates that the investigated group is prone to new forms to conceive the pedagogical work and the school practice, even so the analysis of the information suggests that the change occurs on the organization of work projects parallel to daily works. It seems the research evidenced that the teacher has multiple functions and it also demonstrated the necessity of the institutions to support the formation of collaborative groups of teachers and to foresee the time, the space and the conditions for a systematic, contextualized and reflexive continued formation for these professionals of the basic education