BEING A TEACHER IN PORTUGAL

professional choice, training and expectations of future teachers

Abstract

The research consists of a qualitative study with students in initial education for teaching in Portugal, explores the reasons that lead young people to choose the profession, as well as how it seeks to perceive the place that it will occupy in their longlife trajectories. We opted for a open questionnaire applied in person to 54 students of the 2nd cycle of teacher education in a Portuguese School of Education; using content analysis to treat responses according to the frequency standard. Two main thematic categories were identified in the responses of the students: professional or personal. It was concluded that the students understand that the initial training for teaching is Glose to the legal requirements, but, at the same time, it is configured as the presentation of a project for life, when confronted with the social expectations and the difficulties inherent to the career reality in Portugal.