Institutions of initial teacher training, participation, interaction and autonomy, a case study

Abstract

The perspective of two teacher-training institutions is recovered to reconcile the official programs, in correspondence to the demands of answering to the scheme of Higher Education Institutions and internal school organization. Methodologically, a participatory conversational strategy developed with focus groups and detailed interviews were chosen. The contradictory elements that arise between the official dispositions and their implementation in the school environment were identified. There are tensions between an official discourse that exalts the need for school autonomy while reinforcing the centralizing mechanisms, academic or administrative dependence or heteronomy.