Teacher collaboration and professional development in the workplace : a study of Portuguese teachers

This paper reports on findings from research aiming at investigating teacher collaboration and professional development in the workplace. It draws upon a broader study carried out in a school in Northern Portugal. Data were collected through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and written reflective accounts. In total 80 teachers participated in phase 1, 11 key informants participated in phase 2 and 10 teachers participated in an intervention/training project (phase 3). Findings suggest that problems and limitations to collaborative work are situated at the organisational level such as time and working conditions. Lack of training in collaboration, and issues such as motivation and personal difficulties also emerged from the data. Teachers valued interpersonal relationships, but they also valued formal meetings when they described the contexts in which they worked namely department meetings and projects driven by central government or school administration initiatives. Implications for teacher collaboration and professional development are discussed.CIEC - Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança, UM (UI 317 da FCT