Desafios da inovação curricular: Perspetivas de professores veteranos

Abstract

ABSTRACT The marked ageing of teachers in Portugal has been recognised as one of the obstacles to the change of the educational paradigm to which many European educational systems are committed. The growing generational differences between teachers and students, the constant pressures for the educational use of technologies and the intensification of the teaching work have contributed to a feeling of inefficiency of the curricular work and a certain professional disenchantment in many teachers. In this context, the REKINDLE+50 project worked with veteran teachers seeking to enhance the relationship between their curricular agency and teaching practices through the use of digital technologies, with a view to promoting professional (re)enchantment through curricular innovation. This text analyses veteran teachers’ perspectives about the challenges of curricular innovation through the use of technologies, including practices, perceived risks, obstaces and overcoming strategies that they identify in their agency towards curricular innovation. Assuming a qualitative methodology of interpretative nature, a content analysis was conducted to the murals on padlet and the individual reflections of 36 teachers who participated in a training course, organized within the project, as well as to the transcripts of three focus groups. From this analysis it was found that the curricular agency of veteran teachers is enhanced by innovation practices through technologies, especially when they perceive the sustainability of these practices and their effects on a more active participation of students in teaching activities and the improvement of their learning.