Supervised Teaching Practice in Initial Teacher Education of Early Childhood Teachers in Portugal

Supervised teaching practice (STP) is a fundamental stage of initial teacher education, including preschool educators and teachers of the first cycle of basic education (1st CBE), which impacts their future practices. Our objectives were: a) to characterize STP in the curricula of degrees habilitating teachers for preschool education and teaching of the 1st CBE; b) to gather indicators about the process of STP implemented by the same cycles of studies; and c) to describe the improvement recommendations by the Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES) to the same cycles of studies, concerning STP. The study was based on the documentary analysis of the plans of study, and A3ES reports on the initial teacher education programs preparing preschool educators and teachers of the 1st CBE of public higher education institutions (HEI) in Portugal, available during the academic year of 2020/2021. The results point to discrepancies in the definition of contact hours and the number of hours dedicated to supervised teaching practice across HEI. The recommendations for improvement by the A3ES about STP encompass cooperating teachers, the accompaniment by the HEI, and the conditions of reception at the cooperating schools.