The Professional Culture of Teachers: From Andy Hargreaves' Theory to the Reality Experienced at School

Abstract

This article draws on Hargreaves' (1998) theory of teachers' different professional cultures and aims to provide evidence related to how collaborative work is perceived in schools, by teachers and leaders, and what practices are associated with it. Simultaneously, it allows us to reflect on the predominant professional culture among teachers. The modality used was the case study, inserted in a qualitative methodology, privileging the interpretative dimension of the participants over the reality experienced/perceived. Data were collected in 2018/2019 through document analysis and interviews with six elementary school teachers who teach at a private education institution in Lisbon, Portugal. The results allow us to conclude that teachers' work generally takes on forms of collaboration at a superficial level and they are concentrated in the same department. Although collaborative practices have also been identified, the results indicate the predominance of a “balkanized culture”.