A prática lectiva como actividade de resolução de problemas: Um estudo com três professoras do ensino secundário

Abstract

The study presented in this article regards professional practice as a problem solving activity. It seeks to understand the features that characterize the professional problems that secondary school mathematics teachers face in their daily activity, in a process curriculum change, and how those problems differ in different contexts of practice. The study used an interpretative methodology. One secondary school was selected, where three teachers who had the new eleventh grade curriculum, were already engaged in a joint planning activity. Data collection was done throughout all school year. All teachers’ meetings were observed. There were also observations in some classes, and sessions of joint reflection, interviews and audio and video recordings. The results are consistent with the idea that teaching practice is strongly framed by solving professional problems. Most problems identified had an ill-defined structure and they are progressively reconstructed and understood as teachers deal with them. It is possible to identify significant differences between individual and collective contexts of practice. In the individual context, problems are specific, concern concrete pupils, and most of them are related to pedagogical content knowledge. Practice is their starting and ending point, with the curriculum playing a guiding role. In the collective context, problems are generally broader, concern the “ideal” pupil in the cohort group, and refer to a large variety of issues: mathematical, didactical, and organizational. The curriculum is the starting point is and the end point is practice. The processes used by group problem solving and by individual teachers are similar in kind, but the level of problem solving found in the collective context of work is much higher than the individual context, thus suggesting that collegial contexts of practice may favor professional problem solving.