LEARNING TO TEACH: BUILDING TEACHER IDENTITY IN PRIMARY AND CHILDREN'S EDUCATION

Studies on the construction of teacher identity in the past 20 years showed the importance of professional development and early teaching experiences for the process of learning how to be a teacher. Evidence was collected by conducting 23 micro-ethnographies and 13 focus groups, in which a total of 88 teachers participated, seven of whom were specialists in Physical Education. It allowed us to explore the components of the 'macro', 'meso' and 'micro' systems in which teachers interact and ascribe meaning to their learning of how to become teachers, and to how they have been constructed as teachers. The complexity involved in learning to be a teacher today was shown by discussion and contextualization of teachers' experiences regarding: (a) starting their development; (b) experience with initial and continued training; (c) the notion of knowledge and learning; and (d) how they have been learning to teach, allowing us to make recommendations to improve teachers' training and their placement in schools.