Holistic Learning Evidences in the Supervised Teaching Practice Reports

Abstract

The curricular unit of Supervised Teaching Practice (STP), of the Master programme in Pre-School Teacher Education and of the Master programme in Pre-school and Primary School Teacher Education, is organized in two main phases: the teaching practice in the adequate education levels, and the development of a final report. The final report is a document each student writes and that reflects the course of the training, the critical and reflexive attitude assumed in response to the challenges that were faced, and the processes and performance of the professional routine experiences. The document should also include a research component concerning the teaching action developed by the student. The final report is, thus, an instrument that allows multiple dimensions of analysis. The work described in this chapter resulted from the study of 62 reports, developed between 2012 and 2015, with the objective of analysing the type of teaching-learning experiences, the content areas and the pedagogical approach developed by students. A quantitative and qualitative approach was followed, using text mining to complement the analysis, due to the large quantity of text. This was complemented with content analysis to interpret the resulting data. The results reveal that students describe and analyse teaching-learning experiences in different content areas, valuing differentiated pedagogical strategies and that the reflective processes are centred in the description of the practicum, without revealing a substantial critical thinking. The final report, regardless of the weaknesses, is a valuable instrument in the training process, because it allows the development of reflection and research tools about the education practice, essential for the professional development of future teachers.