Teacher Training and Essential Values for Education in a Democratic Society

Abstract

In order to help students’ development, it is important for teachers to achieve autonomy. Teacher training can stimulate experiences that favor adherence to justice, respect, solidarity and democratic coexistence. This study investigates whether the quality of training - initial and continuing - of teachers in the Final Years of Elementary School, in , is related to adherence to essential values for moral education. total of 260 professors, aged 23 to 70, mostly women, participated. The following were used: (a) Teacher Profile Questionnaire, (b) IEQ, (c) CEQ and (d) SMVS. The following were performed: (a) cluster analysis, (b) ANOVAS and (c) Kruskal-Wallis. Teachers showed greater adherence to justice and democratic coexistence; minor to respect. For justice, there was a difference between high and low quality continuing education. High quality continuing education can promote adherence to values. It is important that training initiatives address values in a non-dogmatic way, promoting dialogue and criticism.