Impact evaluation of the Masters Courses on the Science Teachers’ professional practices – best practices examples

Abstract

This study intends to (i) evaluate the impact of the Master Courses’ attendance on the professional practices of Science teachers, in Portugal, (ii) to disseminate examples of good practices of teaching with a strong impact on the Master Course (MC), and (iii) to present suggestions to improve the articulation between Training, Research and Practices, in the post-graduation context. Semi-structured interviews were made to 5 Biology/Geology Master Teachers (MT) of primary or secondary education. Two of this 5 MT were deepened studied as examples of good practices through classes’ observation and documental analysis. There were evidences of strong impact of the MC in all interviewed teachers, mainly in the classroom level, as the impact on peers was only evidenced by the two case studies. It is suggested that collaborative practices, involving teachers and researchers, namely as a result of post-graduation contexts, would promote the changing of the existent teachers’ practices.