In-service science teacher education in Portugal: an analysis of the short courses available

Abstract

Although teaching-related relevant competences development starts during pre-service teacher education programmes, teachers’ professional knowledge has to be further developed through in-service training. In-service training should lead teachers to develop and update the knowledge base acquired during initial teacher education and to fulfil their professional needs. In Portugal, in-service training courses are organized by diverse institutions, being the most common higher education institutions and school networks. This raises questions about the consistency between science teachers’ needs and the in-service training courses available to them, as well as between the in-service courses and the recent science education research agenda. Courses organized by higher education institutions and school networks from the north of Portugal, accredited by the national agency and available from its webpage, were analysed. Results indicate that in-service training courses focus on diverse teacher education components but they tend to concentrate on general issues. However, it may be hard for science teachers to find in-service training in some subjects and/or issues. These results may motivate a follow up investigation on whether or not those in-service courses fit science teachers’ educational needs so that teacher educators can find ways to better make their actions fit teachers’ own training needs.