Professional Profile and Needs of Basic Education Teachers: Envisioning Nurturing Communities of Practice

Background: Teacher Training has needed new possibilities to make teaching practice more flexible and less boring. Therefore, using school-centred training is essential, so there is a need to investigate in loco the profile and needs of teachers. Objective: Identify the professional profile, the teaching know-how, the difficulties and needs in the teaching processes to cultivate communities of practice with teachers in a municipality placed in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul State. Design: This is a qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory research using the content analysis technique for data processing. Setting and Participants: Four school contexts of Basic Education were investigated, with 63 teachers coming from two municipal schools and two state schools in a municipality on the West Frontier of Rio Grande do Sul State participated in the study. They were intentionally selected. Data collection and analysis: A structured questionnaire with questions related to the teachers' profiles was used for data collection, as well as open questions related to their pedagogical practice. Results: It was found that there is a high percentage of teachers working in more than one school, a factor that must be considered. We highlight the reflection and autonomy in pedagogical practice and the need for training actions regarding the diversity of methodologies to assertively address the different gaps in students. Conclusions: It is considered important to identify the profile and emerging needs of teachers in order to facilitate the organisation of Communities of Practice that aim for school-centred teacher education.