Conference on Initial Training of Childhood Educators and Teachers gathers more than 200 participants

On September 23, 2022 took place the 1st National Conference on Initial Training of Childhood Educators and Teachers: Realities and Perspectives under Debate, open to a face-to-face and online audience and which brought together more than 200 participants.

The Conference, organised by OP.Edu – Observatory for Education and Training Policies, ESEL – School of Education of IPLUSO and IE – Institute of Education of Lusófona University, allowed for a informed and qualified debate and reflection around several themes, contrasting realities and perspectives, including the access to the profession, the study plans, and the initiation to the professional practice of childhood educators and teachers.

The Opening Session of the Conference included interventions from the Rector of the Lusófona University, Mário Caneva Moutinho, and from Teresa Teixeira Lopo and Ana Maria Seixas, co-directors of OP.Edu. This was followed by interventions, divided into several Panels, by António Teodoro, Director of CeiED – Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Education and Development and of the Institute of Education of Lusófona University, Assunção Flores, from the Institute of Education of the University of Minho, Carlos Ceia, from the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of the NOVA University, Dalila Lino, from the School of Education of the IPL – Polytechnic of Lisbon, Ernesto Candeias Martins, from the School of Education of the Castelo Branco Polytechnic Institute, Joaquim Escola, from the School of Human and Social Sciences of the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Maria João Cardona, from the School of Education of the Santarém Polytechnic Institute, Maria João Mogarro, from the Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon and also Vítor Duarte Teodoro, from the Institute of Education of the Lusófona University.

Sílvia Berény, from OSMOPE – Social Organisation of the Movement of Educational Bridges, Elizabete Eufémia, from the Tempos Brilhantes Association and Conceição Ramos, from Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho Secondary School, as well as former students Ana Lima and Leonor Teixeira da Rocha from the Master’s Degree in Pre-school Education and Primary School Teaching, and Viviana Rodrigues, from the Master’s degree in Teaching Visual Arts in the 3rd Cycle of Basic Education and Secondary Education, that spoke about their recent experiences of transition and entry into the teaching profession.

The presentations had the skilled moderation of CeiED and OP.Edu researchers Ana Paula Gomes, Arlinda Cabral, Clara Craveiro, Constança Vasconcelos, Inês Vieira, Isabel Sanches, João Filipe Matos, João Gouveia, Maria Neves Gonçalves, and Nuno Mantas.

In partnership with the António Sérgio Training Centre, this conference was certified as a Short Duration Training Action (ACD), under Order 5741/2015 of 29 May, for the purposes of progression in the teaching career of childhood educators, primary and secondary school teachers, and special education teachers.

The proposal presented by António Teodoro at the Closing Session – A new social contract for the initial training of teachers – will soon be made available for public view.