Curriculum reform and teacher agency spaces: Analysis of multiple contexts of science teachers' professional development

• Grant number: 24/06467-2
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Educational Teaching and Learning
• Principal Investigator: Daniela Lopes Scarpa
• Grantee: Daniela Lopes Scarpa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: São Paulo
• Associated researchers: Danusa Munford ; Laurie Katz ; Sophie Babault

Abstract

Since 2017, with the national curricular policy, discussions are taking place about processes of elaboration and implementation of curriculum policies, and initiatives of teachers' professional development. So, we have the opportunity to participate and investigate these dimensions, contributing to establish dialogues between the theoretical perspective, and the perspective of school practice. Considering: (i) the current context of the curricular discussions and the possible tensions and transformations between the different curricular dimensions (prescribed, planned, interpreted and in action) present in the curriculum of the São Paulo city; (ii) the fact that the science curriculum of the São Paulo city is in dialogue with the concepts of Scientific Literacy and Inquiry-Based Science Education, central to the area of research in science education, and (iii) the challenges and difficulties of teachers in dealing with these perspectives and the importance of teacher professional development processes, this research project proposes to investigate the relationships between teaching identities and agency spaces constructed in different contexts of science teachers' professional development present in the curricular reform of the São Paulo Municipal Department of Education. From this objective, our research question is: how are teaching identities and agency spaces constituted when they learn and position themselves in relation to a process of curricular implementation based on Scientific Literacy and Inquiry-Based Science Education? The methodological perspective of microethnography, guided by ethnography in education, will be used to look at interactions in teachers' professional development meetings. Thus, it will be possible to give visibility to the complex processes of teachers' professional development that are taking place in the São Paulo Municipal Department of Education, allowing, in dialogue with science education theoretical references, to understand how the establishment of teacher agency spaces to deal with new curriculum demands enable the construction and negotiation of knowledge about Scientific Literacy and Inquiry-Based Science Education. Such reflections have the potential to contribute to the development of public policies for teachers' professional development. (AU)