3 rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIFELONG EDUC ATION AND LEADERSHIP FOR ALL ICLEL 2 017 / Septem ber 12 -14, 2017 / Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto PORTUGAL Perspectiv es on Co llabora tion an d Prof essiona l Dev elopment in Po rtuguese Scho ols Maria Manuela UNAS 1 1 Master St udent of Administratio n and Educa tion Management, Portu calense University, Porto , Portugal Emai l: [email protected] Sandra 2 2 Research Centre on Child Studies, University of Minho, P ortugal; 2 Portucalen se Institute for Human Development, Portucalense University, Portugal. Emai l: [email protected] 3 , 3 Portucalen se Institute for Human Development, Por tucalense Univers ity, Po rto, Portugal. Emai l: eac m.estp @gmail.com 4 4 Research Centre on Child Studies , Institu tte of Education, University of Minho, Portugal. Emai l: [email protected] m inho.pt Abstract This paper is part of a broader in ternational research pro ject, which includes eight case stud ies carried out i n public schoo ls in Portu gal and in Chile. It is a comparative study, which aims to u nder stand the w ay teachers describ e formal and in form al opportun ities for collaboration in th eir schools and its eff ect in t erm s o f p ractical knowledge; to identify th e en ablers and inhibi tors that influence professional co llaborative learn ing at sch ool; to understand the role o f teacher evaluation and stu dent academic school s view thei r ow n professional developm ent. In t his case study , a public schoo l, locate d in t he n orth o f Portugal, wit h sixty years of histor y, was selected. The p articipants i n the study are teach ers fr o m di fferent disciplinary areas an d teaching departments. The scho ol includes elementar y and second ary s chool level, with regular an d profession al st udy progra mmes. Data col lection is based on semi-structu red interviews to the s chool dir ector and t o eight teachers, mainl y coord inators o f teaching d epartments. R esults based o n findings from teachers point out the importance o f collab orative work, but they also recognize t hat s chools need a reorg an opportun ities are al so seen as fundamental for p rofessional developm ent and to improve student out c ome s. C onclusio ns a nd implications for teacher collabor a tio n and professional develop me nt will be discu ssed in the paper. Keyw ords : Collaboration, Professional Development, Informal and Form al Learnin g, Teacher's P erspectives, P o rtuguese Schools Introduction Collabo ration is a key challe nge and opp ort u nity for sc hools and tea chers to improve their p erfor manc e a nd contribute to t heir own p rofessio na l l earnin g a nd develop ment. Collaboratio n may as sume diff ere nt forms, suc h as co llabor ative planning, peer c oac hing, m entorin g, col labor ative action resea rch, or even ranging fro m advice and consulta tion to shared d ecis ion -making (Har greaves, 1 998 ; Little, 1990 ). Schoo l culture a nd lea dership i s also an important variabl e influe ncing teac he r col labo ration and pr ofessi o nal develop ment, as co llaborative cultures foster and build on qualities of open ness, trust and support among teacher s (Flores et a l. 2007 ). Basicall y, culture is related with people w he n the y are with eac h ot her i n cla ssroo m, or at their discipli nar y dep artments. In this relat ionship , co m es out their values, beliefs and b ehaviors, s hare d by all or ganization members (Schein, 1 985 , in Day, 2 004). Day (2 004) refers that schoo l is a p hy sical canar y , a formal organizatio n, social and p sychological c ontext where teac hers develop a professional sense o f prac tice, efficacy a nd c o mmunity. F or the aut hor, this last aspec t seems t o b e t he most i mportant value for the teaching and learni ng process, for tea chers and stude nts. As referred by D a y (2004 ), teachers under stand t hat s hared obj ectives, coll egiali t y, ta king risks, supp o rt, mutual respec t, o pen mind, humor and c elebra tion, l ife formation contrib utes to the co llective pa ssion for professional develop ment. T his p ass ion h elps to reject the tendency for individual cul ture s (like a utonomy, isola tio n, and insularit y r ule), art ificial col legiality (the relationships a t work are imposed b y autocr acy), b alkanizati on (exi sts a competitio n to obtain reso urces and rewords; lo ya lt y to t he discip line or t o the dep artment co mes be fore the 3 rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIFELONG EDUC ATION AND LEADERSHIP FOR ALL ICLEL 2 017 / Septem ber 12 -14, 2017 / Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto PORTUGAL loyalty to t he schoo l). Accor ding to D ay (2 004 ), t he ide al wo uld be for s choo ls to a ss ume collegial relationshi ps, where p eop le a re as important as the professi onal, where t he w ork b y sh ari ng should prevail towards an e m otional co mprehension. De nzin (19 84, p. 1 37), me n tione d by Da y (200 4), re fers that s hared emotions are the center o f the meanin g to unde rstand, in a si gnificant way, the others e motional experie nces . Accordin g to Fort e & Flores (2014 ), c olla borat ive w o rk b rin gs several benefit s such as moral support, which a ll ows tea chers to respond in a more s ucces sful way t o the prob le ms, a m o ng other advanta ges s uch as ne w ideas, reflection abou t practi ce, m ore a nal ytical and crea tive energ y to deal better with st udents and a stronger capa cit y to l earn from others a nd t o i mprove cont in uousl y. Ho wever, the co nstruction o f lear ning co llaboration networks ta kes a lon g time to fun ctio n, liter ature sugge sts t hat they o f fer sig nificant effects, on teac hers a nd, als o on students (Day, olation, a bigger co mpromise to t he mission, t he obj e ctives of t he sc hool and to tea ching work, a better chance for teac hers to be informed, skill fully renovated and i nspired to i nspire their st udents, signif icant d evelopment to ad apt teaching to stude nts, a nd a great er chance to look for a systematic a nd essenti al chang e. the wa y teac hers describe for mal and inf or mal opp ortunitie s for col labor ati on in their s chools and its e ffect in ter m s o f practi cal knowledge and p rofessional d evelop m ent . The study i s p art o f a bro ader internatio nal r esearch proj ect, which includes ei ght c ase studi es carried o ut in publi c schools in P ortugal and i n Chile. M ethod T his st udy i s p art of a br oader internationa l r esearch projec t and also a Masters Disser tation on Educational Manageme nt and Admi nistratio n, carr ied out at the P ortucale nse Universit y, in Portuga l. T he objec tives of the pr oje ct include the follo wing: - T o un der stand the way teac her s, de scribe form a l and i nforma l o pportunities for co llabo ration in their schools a nd its effect in ter ms of pract ical knowled ge. - T o identify the enabl ers and in hibitors that i nfluence pr ofessi onal collabo rative lear ning at sc hoo l. - develop ment. - T o analyze how teachers with different s kills, experience s and schools vie w their o wn pr ofessional develop ment. T his study ai ms to ana lyze a nd discuss t eac her co llabo ration and professional de velopment ba sed o n finding s from a case s tudy ca rried out in P ortugal, i n a p ublic school, locate d in the north of P ortugal. T he follow in g research q ue st ions we re defi ned to guide the st udy: - Ho w impo rtant are for mal and infor mal experiences o f teach ers for t hei r practica l kno wledge? - What ar e the facil itating and i nhibiting features that co ntribute to the develop ment o f collab orative teacher work? - What is t he role of teac her evaluatio n and stude nt r es ults for teacher co llab oratio n and professional develop ment? - Data Collection T he research design of the study combine s a qua li tative and quantitative appr oach. The methods for data collec tion i nclude a q uestio nnaire, s e m i -struct ured i ntervie ws a nd p articip ant ob servatio n. T he questionnair e was app lied to all teaching sta ff a t t he sc hool ( N=173 ), from Octo ber to Dec ember 2016 . F or the semi -structured intervie ws, the school d ir ector and t eachers w it h coo rdinatio n ro les in the school were sele cted (N=8). T he semi - structured interviews were carri ed out fro m J a nu ar y to March 20 17. T able 1 presents a sum mar y of the pha ses and m ethod s of data co llectio n. 3 rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIFELONG EDUC ATION AND LEADERSHIP FOR ALL ICLEL 2 017 / Septem ber 12 -14, 2017 / Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto PORTUGAL Table 1 . Phases and methods of data co ll ection Phases M om ent Participants Data Data Analysis collection Elementary and secondary Statistical an alys i s using the 1st Phase October to SPSS pro gram . Co ntent analysis school teachers . Questionnaire December 2016 of written comments by the (N=173) particip ants. - School Director January to March - Department Coordinators Semi- Conten t analy sis of interview 2017 - Coo rdinator Internal structu red transcripti ons. 2nd Phase Evaluation Interview (N=8) 3rd Phase March t o June Teachers that authorize the Part icipant Conten t analy sis of field notes 2017 observation Observation and observations. For t he purpose o f this p ape r, onl y quali tative data fro m the 2 nd phase o f data co llection, this is, fro m the semi - structured inte r views t o schoo l leade rs and teachers wi th co o rdi nat ion ro les i n t he sc hool, will be anal yzed a nd discussed. Ethical pr ocedures were c onsid ered during the data collec tio n. The r esearc h pro toc ol wa s p rovid ed to the School Director , who aut horiz ed the d evelop ment o f t he study in the school. Infor med con sent (to the d irecto r and teachers) and co nfidentiali ty of the dat a we re as sured a t all rese arch proced ures. The scho ol T he school participating i n t his case study i s a secondar y s chool , with histo rical refere nce and o ver 6 0 years of existence. I t w as the first industrial a nd co mmercial school in the region and it aims to be a reference in educatio n/training, o ffering basic l evel education a nd a wide ran ge of s econdary le vel education (nighttime inclusive). The sch ool rec eives stude nts c o ming fro m di fferent socio -econo mic and cul tural b ackgrounds and it is designated a s a T EIP school (E ducational T err itory with P rio rity Interve ntion), co nce rned w ith d isabilit ies, overco ming absentee ism and so cial e xclusion in earl y school. T he school includes a m ultidiscipli nary tea m, including a p sychologist, a social w orker, a coo rdi nator of s o cial and cult ural activities, spec ial e ducatio n specialists, etc. It is the school wi th the hig hest n u mber of st udents and te achers i n the region: 12 73 students (bet ween the teachi ng d aytime and nighttime); 17 3 teachers (day and night). In Po rtugal, schools are organized in mega- groups, acc ord ing to re cent chan ges in t he P ortuguese legi slatio n. T his organizational c han ge introd uced many c hallen ges for teachers work, their ped agogic al practice s, col labo ration with ot hers, and the ir personal a nd pro fessiona l dev elop ment. Besides this "p roblem ", the different po licies or external regulations, pr oduce a chosen for the st u d y see med r elevant and enric hi ng, consi dering the ob ject ives of the internati onal proj ect and the impac t of it s results o n t he school anal yzed. Bes ides this, the repo rt of t he e xternal e valuation of the sch ool called attention to the i mport ance of the develop ment of collabo rative p ractices amongst school teachers an d dep artments. T herefore, t he p articip ation of thi s schoo l in the in ternatio nal res earch p roj e ct seemed t o be a n excellent opp ortun it y to d evelo p fu rther steps i n this dir ectio n. 3 rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIFELONG EDUC ATION AND LEADERSHIP FOR ALL ICLEL 2 017 / Septem ber 12 -14, 2017 / Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto PORTUGAL Par ticipants T he sele ction of t he part icipa nts i n the s tud y followed t he resear ch p rotoco l of t he internatio nal pro jec t, wh ich suggested the selectio n of six to eight teachers, with ro les o f co ordinatio n and leader ship, b esides the role of teachi ng in the sc hool . T he teacher s of t his case stud y were selected b y the resear cher, based on the c riteria of those who were invo lved in in ter mediate lead ership p roc esses, such as the ones with the ro le of Coor dinators of Curric ular Depart ments (CCD) , from differe nt discipli nary groups, a nd also ot her teac hers who pla y a significa nt rol e i n t he sc hool, suc h as t he Responsi ble for the Librar y a nd the Inte rnal E va luation Co ordi n ator. A brie f d escription of the c harac te rization of the p articipa nts i n terms o f sex, age, acade mic q ualificatio n, year s o f teachi ng, years of teachi ng in this school , schoo l dep artment and coo rdi nation roles are p resented i n Ta ble 2. Table 2 . Characteriza tio n of Participa nts Academic Years of Years of School # Sex Age Teaching in Coordination Ro le s Qualification Teaching Departm e nt the School T1 M 66 Master degree 36 17 Philosophy Director of the school an d top leader T2 F 50 28 23 Portu guese CCD Intermediate leadership and teacher T3 F 52 Post-gradu ation in 31 31 Mathematics CCD Intermediate leadership and mathematics teacher Coordinator o f the n ational readi ng T4 F 54 30 27 Foreign plan. Responsible for the school languages Library. Coordinator of the French disciplinary group and teacher T5 F 54 31 28 Mathematics Internal evaluation coordinator and teacher T6 F 53 Master degree 26 25 Experimental CCD Intermediate leadership and sciences teacher Post-gradu ation in CCD Intermediate leadership and T7 M 54 School ad mini stration 25 25 Social sciences teacher and management T8 F 51 Master degree 24 24 Foreign CCD Intermediate leadership an d languages teacher CCD Coor dinator of Curr icular Department Data Analysis For d ata anal y sis, a co ntent ana l y sis was carried out and data fro m th e se mi -struc tured int erviews wa s organ ized in differen t categories (B ard in, 20 09). The major categori es emerg in g fro m the data were the follo wing: a) Schoo l leade rship and culture; b) Enablers and inhibitors of pr ofessional collab orative le arni ng at school; c) Oppo rtunities for p rofessional develo pment: formal and infor mal experiences; d) Being a teac her toda y a nd in t he future In the next section, findin gs will be pr esented and discussed , acco rding to the data a nalysi s and the review of literature in this field. 3 rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIFELONG EDUC ATION AND LEADERSHIP FOR ALL ICLEL 2 017 / Septem ber 12 -14, 2017 / Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto PORTUGAL Findings T his section explo res t he ma i n fi ndings fro m t he i nte r views to the coord inators of curricular d epartments and t he school direct or. As referred previously, the dat a was o rga nized in four main topics, wh ich ar e presented and discussed in detail in t his se cti on. Evidence fro pro vided to suppor t the findings. a) School Leaders hip and Culture recently grouped . However, this school has a st rong cultur e re lated with t he p rofessio nal teaching a nd also wit h higher le vel training. About le adership, the dir ector reinfo rces the co -respo nsibility a nd a democratic l eader ship. Coord inators, in regard t o the school le ad ership and culture, refer the great e nviron ment to wor k. schoo l h as a very strong c ulture linked t o vo cational t raining and h igher l evel traini ng. It i s rooted in th e commu nity, h aving tu rned 60 years in March. It is definitel y a school th at has fo rmed man y mediu m-hig h level i ndiv iduals in this city. I t has a p rofessional tra ining culture, but al so a ve ry great co ncern with the a cademic tra ining o f the s tu dents, in add ition it a lso inve sts a lot on stude nt active citizenshi p. It i s a g rou pin g of sch ools t hat wants to b uild a ne w identi ty b ased on a nd suppo rting the iden tity and c ultu re o f the seconda ry s choo l a lread y ro oted in the communi ty, match ing i t with other schools, in wh ich the reality is cle arly very d iffe rent, ev en by th e g eograp hic (Teacher # 1_SchoolDi rector) different schoo ls in this city, one o f them was this one an d it was this one th at I prefe rred. There was a b etter e nviron ment b etw een studen ts a nd teach ers her e, al most (Teacher # 5 Internal evaluati on coordi nator) goo d amon g teac hers. E special ly i n my d isciplina ry group, t her e is a lot of sharing , it is almost a family, with t he o ther groups we also rela te very well, there is a good (Teacher # 7 C CD) his a s I am the s chool lead er, bu t when I joined the schoo l mana gement t eam, I have always defen ded a d emocrat ic, parti cipative manage ment, of join t responsibil ity of all th e i ntermediate leaderships. That is why I have given the in termediate leade rships ade qua te conditions and they know t hat they h ave the nece ssary a utono my t o make decision s, within the f ramewo rk o f the leg al normative. The delegat ion of compe tences is a fact here, it shows a d emocrat ic ma nageme nt and with the basi c p rinciple th at I have a lways d efend ed: he who is i n th e scho ol ha s the capa city t o de cide. This means th at when the directo r i s no t t here, there will always be someon e who has the a bili ty t o de cid e and to solv e problems i n the (Teacher # 1 Schoo l Directo r) b) Enablers an d inh ibitors of professional collab orative learni ng at school Coord inators on their interv iews co nsider t hat facilitat ing fe atures are rel ated, mostly, with e motional issues li ke e m pathy, ca pacity to collab orate and availabil ity. T he inhibitor s ar e mostly related with i nco mpatible sc hedule, different i nte res ts, diffic ulty on follo wing the r ules, different a cad emic b ackgrounds and q ualificatio ns, values and age. 3 rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIFELONG EDUC ATION AND LEADERSHIP FOR ALL ICLEL 2 017 / Septem ber 12 -14, 2017 / Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto PORTUGAL I n otice that som etimes we go o n opposite direction s, in terms of class co un cil, the teac hers who are more involved with the class ... we should ha ve identical d ire cti ons. I rea lize t hat some colleague s, by the ir way of being , d o not fo llow the rule s . .. I like to f ollow the rules be cau se an orga nization with rules is e ssential for t he su ccess of st udent s an d also f or us teache rs, to have a good enviro nment, ensuring a be tter quality o f tea ching and lea rning. (Teacher # 7 C CD) Sch edu les a re the main obstacle, incompat ible sched ules that do not allow us to sit down and talk abo ut anything, we often exchange ideas by e-mail , regarding the prepa ration of a test, for examp le. Factors that fa cilitate are th e spirit of coll abo ration an d avail a bili ty among co lleagues. (Teacher # 6 C CD) I have m ore affi nity with p eo ple of my own ag e, it is usually with them that I talk and I s hare t he work more. Collea gues from the sam e year in which I finished my degree, there is great er empath y with them. There is probably not so much affi nity i n terms of cert ain people , with mo re compl icated personalli ties, for e xamp le, to develo p conversat ions. (Teacher # 8 C CD) c) O pportunities for p rofessi onal dev elopm e nt: f or m al and informal exper iences T he coordi na to rs interviews re veal that formal experiences fallo w higher and inde pendent initiative s bo th fr o m the Ministr y of Ed uc at ion, b y several e ducatio n legislations. We a re together in the same boa t and we he lp e ac h oth er, we celebrate our birthd ay da ys, sharing little sna cks and g ifts. Our relation ship i s great, we know each ot her w ell. T he c olleag u es who are place d here fe el thi s and, most of t hem, like to be here. We also cheri sh them, we try to help , a nd so they feel sorry for not be ing abl e to continue in school . (Teacher # 5 I nternal evaluati on coordi nator) Disciplina ry areas meet at least twice per period. It m ay h appen that it is necessary to meet every month , but t his reg ularity i s not a lways nee ded. But at least twice a perio d, I think th at a ll disciplin ary area s meet. The cl ass directors meet with the equ ivale nt pe riodicity. (Teacher # 1 C CD) T he i nf or mal e thinking is viewed li ke a si mple sh ari ng process, this means, that t here s ee ms to be a d ifficulty to u nderstand the real me a n of the co ncept o f c o llaborat ion. When a sked abo ut t he infor mal experience s of collab ora tion, s ome of No, not t hat I k now No, I do not kn ow wha t y ou mean. Our meetings are h eld in an Anoth er teacher , ho w e ver, answered the fol lo wing: Yes, for exa mple to p repare te sts and activi ties and to share and / or discuss something th at may hav e occurred or is occ urring outsid e of what sh ould be the normal develo pmen t of the te aching and / or learning process. (Teacher # 3 C CD) d) Be ing a t eacher today and in the future When asked to fin d metapho r that sugge sted how to be a te acher today and i n the future, the teac hers intervie wed had some d i fficul ties t o a nswe r this que stion. So me pre ferred to w ri te abo ut t he d iscour agemen t and negative t houghts the y feel, when thinking about t he d isresp ect for t he teaching car eer tod ay. I wan t to con tinue to think th at we are the su n th at will illum inate t he min ds of th ese kid s, alth ough we are inc reasingly more su b stitutabl e bec ause they will g ather information fro m sources we d o not kno w ourselves, their rhy thm is d ifferent f rom o urs, b ut we (teach ers) and t he s chool will still con tinue to be a pri vileged space of informat ion and knowledge for some more ti me. (Teacher # 1 C CD) 3 rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIFELONG EDUC ATION AND LEADERSHIP FOR ALL ICLEL 2 017 / Septem ber 12 -14, 2017 / Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto PORTUGAL In the near future, a change in t he process of t eaching versus learning must ta ke place in an disruptiv e way, in the sen se that, first of all , it will attract th e studen ts and we, the te achers, w ill do not feel anymo re in c lass as if we were "p reach ing to the fish." (Teacher # 3 C CD) At th e moment , I am in a p hase of g reat demotiv ation , so I o nly t hink a bou t negati ve th ings. Maybe in the port witho ut a shelter, at th is moment I feel unmo tivated a bou t my profession. (Teacher # 8 C CD) I a m a p erson that knows ve ry litt le, I a m alwa ys trying to i mprove what I k now and m y practices, becau se I f eel th at I kno w littl e very more an d more. I t is a fa st pa ce in per sonal a nd professional life. In the future, I wan t to b e h ere experiencing what is next, bu t I ha ve some fear abou t the future, in p ractice, this is what w e h ave ... Regarding the stud ents we can have in th e f uture, the citizen th at we are goi ng to have is what worries m e. (Teacher # 7 C CD) A gear, w hich needs to be w ell oil ed so that it c an cont inue t o work in the f uture, b ecause I th ink that a s an ed ucati on prof essional , I am n ot isola ted an d it is necessary that thing s in te rconn ect .... I am th inking of those wh eels that spin i n the same d irection, if there is some thin g t hat s tumbles, they will stop working . .. (Teacher # 6 C CD) As paren ts are very, very a bsent, the school seems to be a kindergarten ; The students have very little au ton omy, they wa nt to learn by pl aying; They are less and less responsible. (T eacher #5 Internal evalua tion co ord ina to r) Results, Concl usion s and Reco mmendation s Results based o n findin gs from teacher s point out t he i mportance of se veral aspec ts relate d to coll ab or ation and pro fessiona l de velop ment in s chools. S o m e of the res ults ca n be summarize d acco rding to the fo ll owing p oints: a) p ositive percept ion of the imp or tance of collabo rative w ork, recognizi ng its importa nce fo r teaching work, pro fessiona l de velop ment and organizatio nal perfo rmance; b) nevertheles s, this positi ve perce ptio n is mainly focused on a visio n of collabor ative work i n its i nformal di m ension; c) reinforci ng th e idea t hat c oll abo rative w ork, i n order to be maximized, pr esumes the exist e nce of a democratic, participato ry and resp on sible o rganizati onal c ul tur e, a llo wing teac hers to have high de grees of autonomy in t he exerc ise o f their functions; d) recognitio n t ha t t he main inhibit ing fa ctors of collabo rati ve w ork refer to the organizatio nal di mension (espec iall y sched ules) and to the socio -affective d imension (difference / d iversit y of interest s, values, attitudes, aca de mic cult ure, etc.) ; e) the i mportance o f certain a ttitudes to facilita te co llabor ative wor k, such as empat hy, openness and willingnes s to col labor ate, a nd teachers are r elativel y ap prehens ive about t he f uture, bo th fo r t he chal lenges they face a nd for the auto no my of the student s, absence o f pa rents, de m oti vation, etc.) T hese findings ar e in accordance with previo us research and studies i n thi s fie ld, as for exa mple, the stud y carr ied out by Forte and Flores (2014) , about teacher co llabo ration and pr ofessional d evelop ment in the workplace, which p oints o ut to t he problems and limitation s situated at t he organiza tional level, s uch as ti me and working conditi ons, t he l ack o f training in co llabora tion, and issues s uch as moti vation and p ersonal di fficulties. T eachers r ecognize t he i mpo rtance o f col laborative work, but they also argue t hat schools need a r eorganizatio n fundamental for professio nal d evelop ment and to improve s tudent ou tco mes. Based on these results, reco mmendatio ns for future i mpro vement should focus on t he follow ing s trate gies: 3 rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIFELONG EDUC ATION AND LEADERSHIP FOR ALL ICLEL 2 017 / Septem ber 12 -14, 2017 / Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto PORTUGAL a) to foster the positi ve percept ion of collabo rative work in all i ts di mensions, whether infor mal or fo rm al, creating opp ort u nities for teac hers to experi ment a nd innova te; b) reconfigure teac hing work i n a more flexible a nd integrate d way, especiall y with regard to schedu les and curricula, so that effecti ve coll abo rative w ork is po ssible out side and within the classr oo m; c) develop op po rtunities fo r cont inuous traini ng t hat allo w the experi ence and acquis itio n of skills a nd attitudes t hat facilita te coll aborati ve work; d) reinforce an organiza tio nal culture b ased on de mocrac y, autono my and participat ion, so that co llaborative work ca n take place i n an envi ro nm ent of tru st and re cognition. Acknowled gem ents This work w as fu nded b y th e Researc h Centre on Chil d S tudies of th e University of Minho (CIEC), wit h t he reference POCI-0 1-0 145-FEDER -00 7562. Referen ces Bar din, L. (2009). Day, C. (2004 ). . Porto : Porto Editora. Forte, A. M. & Flores, M. A . ( 2014) . T eacher c ollab orati on and p r ofessional d evelop ment in t he workplace: a study of Portuguese teac hers, Eu ropea n Journal of Teache r Ed ucati on , 37 (1), pp.91 -10 5. Add ressing cha llenges and m ak ing a dif ference. Makin g a differenc e: c hallenges for teach ers, teachi ng, and tea cher edu cation , ed ited by J. B utcher and L. McDonald, (pp. 1 41 56). Rotterdam: Sense P ublis hers. Forte, A. M. ( 2009) . res T ese Hargreaves, A. (1998 ). -mode rna. Alfragide: Mc Gra w-Hill. Teach ers College R ecord , 91 (4), pp. 509 536. 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