WHO ARE THEY AND WHAT DO THEY WANT?

A STUDY WITH STATE ENGLISH TEACHERS IN SERRA TALHADA, PERNAMBUCO

Abstract

The present work concentrates on demands for continued professional development of teachers working in state schools in the city of Serra Talhada, Pernambuco. Results were generated in the research developed for the Bolsa de Incentivo Acadêmico offered by the Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia de Pernambuco, developed from 2021 to 2022, CAAEE 45833021.4.0000.9547. Based on the studies of Cara (2019), Catini (2019), Ialago & Duran (2008), Siqueira (2011), Souza et al. (2016), we discuss teacher education in Brazil and the value of continued professional development. The field research conducted through structured interviews with state school English teachers aimed at building a formative profile of those educators as well as their demands for professional continued development in both pedagogical and linguistic dimensions. Despite the limited sample size, it was possible to verify the negligence of public organizations in providing continued professional development for in-service teachers in the specific area of English language, on the one hand, and teachers’ lack of familiarity with methodological nomenclature to identify their own pedagogical and linguistic needs.