RCAAP Repository

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The present study aims to investigate challenges and learning opportunities that teachers experienced when shifting from face-to-face to online class[1]rooms during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research is grounded on a qualitative design, and data were collected through a survey from 107 Brazilian and Vietnamese educators. Qualitative content analysis is applied to analyze participants’ replies. As a result, the study identifies the following key challenges: (i) mental and emotional issues, (i) interaction inside and outside the classroom, (iii) lack of preparation, (iv) lack of physical access to technology, which is linked to (vi) social inequality in education, and (vii) adaptation of teaching methods. In addition, results of Fisher’s exact test show that teachers are significantly different in reporting their challenges, regarding their sectors and countries. In terms of learning opportunities, the study highlights: (i) increasing students’ autonomy, (ii) teachers’ compassion with students’ diffi[1]culties, (iii) possibility of bonding with students, (iv) optimistic attitudes, (v) overcoming difficulties by learning with trials and mistakes, and (vii) professional development and learning. Finally, it showcases that DE can also be a terrain of learning opportunities in which compassion and professional development opportunities take place through, for instance, finding ways for bonding and teaching despite adversity.

In recent years, social networks have become an instrument of communication and information in which millions of people are engaged every day. Educational processes have traditionally been linked to the family, school and social spheres but nowadays the virtual context generated by the internet and, especially, by social networks, must be considered. A new educational context, in terms of time and space, has reached schools. This study analyses the perceptions of 245 students enrolled at Primary, Preschool and Physical Education Degrees from Comillas Pontifical University (Madrid, Spain). Knowing how future teachers perceive social networks and their use in education may be a good starting point to educate efficiently using them.

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Leadership, equity and participation are central concepts if we want to achieve more inclusive educational centres. Principal mentoring can be an excellent instrument to advance in all three aspects. This study shows the preliminary and qualitative results of implementing the Leadership Programme for a Whole Child Development in Disadvantaged Contexts (WCDP) in eight Spanish schools and institutes in highly vulnerable environments. Mentoring was used as a form of support to principals in the implementation of improvement plans. The mentoring process, the collection of information and the initial evaluation of the process are described. The results show the benefits of mentoring for the improvement of educational centres in two specific aspects that have been analysed: equity and participation.

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In an increasingly connected and interdependent society, collaborative culture emerges as an effective and efficient answer to overcome the complexities that teachers face daily. In turn, the teaching activity requires a continuous reflection on practice, involving the teacher in a constant search for professional development, as a reflective researcher. Now, the action of teaching, understood as a craft and an art that materializes in practices, requires grounding (specific knowledge and skills), theoretical-practical reflection, aimed at improving the teaching and learning of students. For this purpose, the school must be thought of as a learning organization that expands and innovates with the development of professionals who work in it, which requires a new mode of operation from the leaders, the creation of favorable conditions for the continuous questioning of practices and a culture that values permanent learning and improvement. The study carried out in a group of schools in the Greater Lisbon area had, among others, the following objectives: i) to identify the perceptions of leaders about supervision and collaboration; and iii) understand the role of leaders in the professional development of teachers. From a methodological point of view, the investigation assumes the design of a case study, with a mixed approach, based on eight individual interviews with top leaders and twenty-one questionnaire surveys, applied to class directors. The results show different understandings about the concept of collaboration and the role of leaders in the professional development of teachers, perceived as an unfinished process and under permanent reconstruction.

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