At the seminar VALUE both groups of the portuguese pilot presented their training journey and commented on what was most significant to them.
EB1 / JI S.Domingos (Santarém):
− [The training journey was] based on what we are and know, always supported by the trainers.
− [Helped us] realize that in the center is the child and understand our roles and tasks.
− We learn about educational intentionality, value the collaborative dimension, look at the professional practice of each other, as an union.
APISAL (Lisbon):
− This new way of looking at the child has been the greatest opportunity for us to reflect on our role as facilitators of our day-to-day life.
− We have had the opportunity to reflect on everyday practices and realize that communication is important to get everyone involved.
− The opportunity to do this training helps to give impetus to changing practices.
As an expectation of continuity, both groups highlighted:
• Greater collaboration of families in the daily education of the children.
• More opportunities for team dialogue.
Defining as primary commitments:
• Creation of space and time for dialogue among professionals;
• Listen and value the choices of children and families;
• Reflect on everyday practices for better professional performance – That is, what we do with children, which reflect on what they have done, we must do it too.
At the end of the meeting each group reflected on a set of issues and the definition of four key aspects was common to both groups:
− Cooperative and collaborative role is essential in teamwork.
− Difficulty in creating moments of reflection and sharing between teams, was one of the constraints felt.
− [Training contributed to] having a different view of our professional performance, always respecting each individual.
As a final conclusion, Maria João Cardona emphasized that there are more similarities than differences between the assistants groups, stressing the need to find strategies to continue these professional development processes (who gets involved, who does what, what is done, how and for what).
