TEACHER COMPETENCIES AND TRAINING FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION IN THE EARLY YEARS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the ongoing training, practice and reflections of a group of teachers from a municipal elementary school in the City of São Paulo focusing an innovative project aimed at observing what factors are essential to theirwork in science teaching. We used three types of data: oral interactions in the course of in-service training; interviews; and analysis of classes. We noted that the teachers’ participation in activities in the role of apprentices, followed by reflections and space for exchanges, was fundamental to their science teaching practice, rarely dealt with in the early school years.We concluded that articulation of the various competencies is a key factor in this science-teaching endeavor and that such competencies range from the teaching plan right through to the social relations established within the school environment.