Teacher education, reflexivity and cultural diversity - the potentialities of collaborative action research

Resumo

This paper presents a study carried out in a Portuguese Secondary School, focused on an action research training process developed with 14 multidisciplinary teachers. The former signatory researcher played, simultaneously, the role of trainer. The formative process started from the diagnosis of difficulties felt by teachers in their daily work with culturally and linguistically diverse students and the needs of training recognised by the collaborating teachers in the scope of multi/intercultural education. The teachers with the researcher/trainer drew schemes of action research within their classes, aiming to integrate culturally relevant practices. The researcher accompanied the whole process, analysing and interpreting the changes within the practices and the conceptions of the teachers throughout the process, namely in their capacity of reflection on diversity and multi/intercultural education. The data analysis is supported by field notes, framed in a participatory observation process, content of teachers’ reflective portfolios and critical reports. The results of the analyses of the reflexivity’ levels of these teachers revealed that the majority of teachers incorporated the practical level of reflexivity (not owned in the beginning of the process), and some reached the critical or emancipatory level. In this paper, we will discuss these and other results of the study, highlighting the potentialities of in-service teacher education through collaborative action research, in order to prepare teachers on principles of cultural diversity, equity, equal opportunities and social justice.