Innovative Practices in Education and Training

Objectives

1. To discuss socio-institutional and professional everyday reality, aiming towards an enlightened intervention in educational matters.
2. To identify structures and construction processes of educational, social and professional change designed to meet the demands of our society and to open up other perspectives.
3. To describe and develop the construction of challenging social and educational processes.
4. To develop construction processes of pedagogical reasoning and professional devices validated by systematic reflection.
5. To argue about the importance of life-long education through the use of cooperative training strategies based on systematic reflection.

Program

A - The contemporary context
1. The contemporary reality: needs and requirements in education and training.
2. Construction of responses to social demands in different areas: Global responses, and local and professional initiatives.
B - Concepts and dimensions of educational innovation
1. Dimensions and conceptions of innovation in the pedagogical and training domain.
2. Professional education today: autonomy and collaborative attitudes.
3. Teachers' reflective intervention in the building of pedagogical structures and processes.
C - Contemporary challenges and attempts at solutions

1. The democratization of education, the "new" dimensions and demands of working life, the persistence of the global crisis (economic, values, etc.), school failure, the teacher malaise, strategies of "resistance", etc.
2. The construction of systemic and situated solutions in education: Adaptive education, project work, inclusive schooling, formative assessment, attention to educational and training needs.

Teaching Methodologies

There will be periods of work where the teacher will intervene in order to transmit information and to organize and direct of the students’ learning activities. These periods may also be devoted to students’ socialization of learning, organized in small groups. There will also be time set for research activities, reflection and discussion of experiences and texts related to the subject matter, as well as the organization of possible forms of intervention. Students’ assessment will be based on the average of the marks obtained by them in the different tasks carried out throughout the semester.

Bibliography

CARBONELL SEBARROJA, J. (2001). A Aventura de Inovar - A mudança na escola. Porto Editora. Porto.
ELLIOT, J. (1990). La investigación-acción en educación. Morata. Madrid.
FORMOSINHO, J. O., e KISHIMOTO, T. M. (2002), Formação em Contextos - Uma Estratégia de Integração. Pioneira Thomson Learning, S. Paulo.
GONZÁLEZ, P. F. (2002). O Movimento da Escola Moderna Portuguesa. Porto Editora. Porto.
HARGREAVES, A. (1996). Profesorado, cultura y postmodernidad. Morata. Madrid.
NIZA, S. (1997). Formação Cooperada. Educa. Lisboa.
PERRENOUD, P. (2000). Pedagogia Diferenciada - Das intenções à acção. Artes Médicas Sul. Porto Alegre.

RODRÍGUEZ, Â., e ESTEVES, M. (1993). A análise de necessidades na formação de professores. Porto Editora. Porto.
SCHÖN, D. A. Formar professores como profissionais reflexivos. In, Os Professores e a sua Formação. Org. António Nóvoa. Pág. 77/92
STENHOUSE, L. (1987). Investigación y Desarrollo del Currículo – Morata. Madrid.