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Practicum as a Space and Time of Transformation: Self-narrative of a Physical Education Pre-service Teacher



Author(s)

Alves Margarida, Pereira Ana, Graça Amândio, Batista Paula

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DOI:10.17265/2161-6248/2012.07B.005

University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

Understanding the role of the practicum in the PI (professional identity) construction and reconstruction within a pre-service teacher is crucial, since this is a remarkable moment in their initial training. This moment provides new feelings and challenges, and it represents the transition from students (pre-service teacher) to teachers (in-service teacher). Although there are some studies about this subject, the perspective of a self-narrative of the PI construction had not been hitherto unveiled. In this paper, the authors try to capture the contributions of the practicum to the PI construction based on the analysis of the Practicum Report and the Board Diary. The confrontation with the real context of school and teaching is noticed as critical, and the importance attributed to the practicum is one of the most emphasized aspects. The pre-service teacher remarked the necessity to be able to (re)construct and (re)adapt methodologies. The idea that PI is constructed in community, to enhance the importance of group work, was also noticed. All in all, the most notorious contributes to the PI (re)construction were engaged with aspects that can only be experienced “in loco”, raising new questions about the importance of the context of the practicum to the PI construction.

PI (professional identity), pre-service teacher, practicum, self-narrative, physical education