Representations of portuguese university students about attitudes in pedagogical practice

Abstract

Teaching attitudes in the educational relationship can contribute to or hinder student learning. The objective of this study was to understand the structure of representations of the term attitudes in teaching practice and to study the differences in the meanings given to it among the students investigated. The research, with a qualitative design, carried out in May 2023, at a Portuguese public university, with 111 students (37 from Educational Sciences, 25 from Psychology, 49 from Civil Engineering), used the free word association technique. The results reveal, through the central core, that students' representations of teaching practice are positive and established in dialogue, respect, professionalism, and empathy. Negative representations (distance, hypocrisy and lack of practice) and positive representations were found in the peripheral system in the 4th quadrant (tolerance, teamwork, honesty), which leads to the conclusion that these divergent representations propose to university teachers a continuous reflection on their pedagogical practices, established on an educational relationship that positively influences the teaching-learning process.