Maria Teresa Macara

Is a PhD candidate in Education at the Lusófona University, holding a Master’s degree in Educational Sciences (2010) with a specialisation in Education, Development and Educational Policies, and a Bachelor’s degree in History from the Faculty of Letters, University of Lisbon (2000).

She holds certified training in “Online Teaching and Digital Teaching Competences” (Universidad Europea de Madrid, 2020) and is a certified trainer by CREA, University of Barcelona, serving as Ambassador for the Includ-Ed Programme (DGE/ME). She is also accredited by the Scientific Council for Continuing Education, with experience in teacher training in Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe, and holds the Pedagogical Competence Certificate (CCP) for youth and adult education.

She is a researcher at the Institute of Educational Sciences, the Centre for Studies and Intervention in Education and Training (CeiEF), and Op-Edu at the CeiED. She has taught in both primary education and higher education, and has been a leading member of the Lisbon Teachers’ Union. She also serves as an expert evaluator for the National Erasmus Agency and volunteers in mentoring programmes for students from Portuguese-speaking countries.

She is the author of several academic articles and conference presentations and participates in research and educational intervention projects.

Advisor: Rui Trindade

Co-advisor: Louise dos Santos Lima

• Contemporary History and History of Education
• Teacher Identity and Professional Associations
• Continuing Teacher Education
• Learning Communities
• Biographical Narratives
• Children’s and Oral Literature
• Promotion of Reading and Creative Writing
• Traditional Singing

Abstract

The overall objective of this case study is to understand the implementation process of the INCLUD ED project in educational establishments across three school clusters, identify processes, added value, and constraints, and engage the research subjects dialogically. Therefore, it is a study focused on the organization of the school and its pedagogical activities and its outcomes, guided by the phenomenological-interpretative, qualitative, or hermeneutic paradigm and a communicative research methodology (MRC).

The INCLUD ED project was coordinated by the CREA of the University of Barcelona, funded by the European Union, and co-opted by the Ministry of Education in Portugal. The project initially invited TEIP schools, and later all other EDs, to integrate the project into their practices.

The project's relevance lies in its transformative content of a grammar of the School and the classroom, which maintains failure rates, moving towards achieving success for all students and social cohesion, reorganizing itself as a Learning Community; it proposes a change in communication technology in the classroom, in line with the principles of dialogic learning and the inclusion of successful, already tested educational actions in the curricular plans.