CONTINUING TEACHER EDUCATION: FOUNDATIONS, MODELS, AND CHALLENGES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The continuous professional development of teachers represents one of the central pillars for consolidating democratic, inclusive, and high-quality educational systems. In the face of profound social, cultural, and technological transformations over recent decades, teaching has come to demand new pedagogical repertoires, socio-emotional competencies, and a growing mastery of digital technologies. Consequently, initial teacher education alone has become insufficient to address the complexity of contemporary educational practices. In this context, continuous professional development emerges as a permanent, reflective, and collaborative process aimed at updating knowledge, reconstructing professional practices, and strengthening teachers’ autonomy.

This article discusses, from a theoretical-critical perspective, the main foundations that structure continuous teacher development, drawing on contributions from authors such as Paulo Freire, António Nóvoa, Maurice Tardif, Miguel Arroyo, Selma Pimenta, Imbernón, and Saviani. It analyzes the Brazilian legal framework—particularly the National Education Guidelines and Framework Law (LDB 9394/1996), National Curriculum Guidelines, and the National Teacher Training Base (BNC-Formação)—highlighting the advances, tensions, and contradictions that shape teacher education policies. The text also examines effective models such as in-service training, action research, communities of practice, mentoring, digital competence development, critical-emancipatory approaches, and Lesson Study, presenting both national and international evidence.

Persistent challenges are also addressed, including the fragmentation of public policies, inadequate structural conditions in schools, the prevalence of decontextualized training programs, limited time for collective study, and the lack of articulation between universities and basic education. In contrast, the article highlights perspectives for a transformative approach to continuous professional development, centered on teacher protagonism, critical reflection, the valorization of everyday experiences, and an ethical-political commitment to social justice. It is concluded that continuous professional development, when carried out systematically, contextually, and dialogically, constitutes a fundamental element in the improvement of pedagogical practices and the strengthening of teacher identity. Thus, more than isolated training courses, it must be understood as a permanent, collective process integrated into the school context and oriented toward the critical construction of knowledge.