Teacher professional development arising from the implementation of the Project Approach in a pre-school class. A case study

Abstract

This article presents an ethnographic case-study developed in a preschool classroom. It is a qualitative research that focuses its inquiry into the ability of the Project Approach to contribute to the professional development of the teacher. It examines if the role adopted by the teacher to work with Project Approach facilitates her professional development because it helps her to improve the strategies of attention to the diversity of students and their families. The results show the feelings of uncertainty that the teacher experiences and her difficulties to shift from the traditional methodology to the implementation of the Project Approach. A transit from a management teacher role towards assuming the role of companion in student learning is shown. Finally, we identify some resistance in the school culture that slow down the implementation of this method both in the classroom as its transfer to other educational levels of the center.