Profissionalidade docente: elementos constitutivos da indentidade de docentes iniciantes na educação infantil

Abstract

This research sought to understand how professionalism is constructed among beginning early childhood education teachers and how these professionals acquire the necessary tools to face the challenges of the profession. The objectives are to identify the feelings, doubts, and uncertainties of teachers as they enter the profession, as well as to understand the process of constructing the structuring knowledge of teaching and the formation of their professional identity. To answer these questions, we adopted as theoretical frameworks the studies by Contreras (2002), Nóvoa (2014), Roldão (2007), Shulman (1987), and Tardif (2014) on teaching professionalism and the construction of teachers' professional identity. The research subject profile was defined based on Huberman's (2000) study on the professional life cycle of teachers, considering the period from entry into the career, which encompasses up to three years of experience. This is a qualitative, exploratory study. Data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews with three teachers working at a Municipal Early Childhood Education School in the Belo Horizonte Municipal Education Network. The data obtained were analyzed according to content analysis (CA) proposed by Laurence Bardin (2011), a set of techniques that aims to understand the meanings expressed by the research subjects in written documents and other forms of expression. The categories created from the analysis were interpreted in light of theoretical frameworks on teaching, with emphasis on the concepts of professional knowledge (Shulman, 1987) and models of teaching professionalism (Contreras, 2002). The study confirmed that beginning teachers experience many conflicts and revealed the need for induction and support programs to overcome the challenges inherent in early career development. Based on this analysis, an educational product was developed in the form of an educational podcast, aimed at training teachers, pedagogical coordinators, and school administrators. This educational resource aims to help schools develop training plans that address the legitimate needs and priorities of teachers at the beginning of their careers.