Teaching Professional Development and Learning Career Paths: Autobiographical Narrations by Science Teachers from Chile

Abstract

Different studies show that personal, social and educational aspects, among others, interact in the continuous learning of teachers, with certain specificities in science teachers. A study was conducted with teachers who participated in the Program of Scientific Inquiry for Science Education (ICEC) of the Ministry of Education, in a university in the center of the country, using a biographical-narrative study with micro-stories. The professional development of science teachers and some learning generated from the Covid 19 pandemic was described. For this purpose, the study was conducted in two cases, asking about the story of being a teacher in Case 1, and, about the story of being a teacher in the pandemic in Case 2. Case 1 showed the place of initial teacher training in the biographies, the relationship between professional and personal learning, as well as the transcendental and social meanings of the teaching profession. Case 2 showed the prominence of collective and individual professional learning in contexts of crisis, as well as the new definitions of the professional role. These findings are discussed in relation to learning ecologies, personal learning environments, and inquiry in professional development.