The aim of this research is to understand the events and experiences that contribute to the development of top leaders who are capable of thinking of their organization pedagogically and strategically to respond to present-day challenges. The uniqueness of the objective itself justified the choice of narrative research based on the interdependent relationship between leaders and institutions. Methodologically, the autobiographical narrative was used as the method and data collection technique. We studied the life stories of two headmasters from two school clusters in Portugal, as well as the dynamics of their leadership. The analysis of the life stories was complemented by a chronotopography, documentary analysis, focus groups with middle managers and interviews with members of the Portuguese Ministry of Education. The analysis of the data collected through the life narratives enabled a series of milestones to be identified that, due to their authors’ ability to reflect, were decisive in their professional development, namely, further education; initial training; experience in management bodies and lifelong learning; the participation in the Educational Territories of Priority Intervention programme, the Pedagogical Innovation Pilot Project and school networks.

Scientific literature has provided evidence that teacher education based on scientific evidence is highly beneficial for professional development. However, the impact of receiving training grounded on co-created teaching materials—incorporating the expertise of teachers, trainers, and researchers—remains less explored. In this context, the TeachXevidence (2023–2025) project (ref.101096234) conducted nine teacher education seminars in Spain and Portugal, based on co-created scientific evidence with social impact. Following the Communicative Methodology, a total of 180 social impact questionnaires were collected to assess the perceived social impact of the teacher education seminars. The results of these questionnaires indicate that (a) the participant teachers feel more confident and better equipped with arguments to debunk existing hoaxes related to gender violence prevention and (b) they report having stronger arguments to critically evaluate and select the training programs school want to implement on gender violence prevention.

Este é um texto onde, a partir dos pressupostos do que Trindade e Cosme (2016) designam por paradigmas da instrução, da aprendizagem e da comunicação, se confrontam as perspetivas de exigência e rigor académicos que se coadunam com tais pressupostos. Como resultado da reflexão produzida, constata-se, em primeiro lugar, que estas categorias não só não são propriedade do paradigma da instrução, como são entendidas, em alternativa, como categorias indispensáveis à afirmação de uma Escola que visa assumir-se como um espaço culturalmente significativo e humanamente empoderador. Neste sentido, estamos perante um texto que, ao libertar tais categorias curriculares e pedagógicas das amarras onde os instrucionistas as encerraram, pretende contribuir para propor uma leitura mais complexa e inclusiva acerca da exigência e do rigor académicos, no momento em que tem em conta quer os alunos e as suas singularidades quer uma outra visão epistemológica acerca do conhecimento.

By principles established in LBSE, the Portuguese public school commits itself to ensure the inclusion of all children and youth; however, when we look at the pathways of those in residential care, under measures of promotion and protection, we realize that this is one of the most vulnerable populations in education. The data analysis of their school pathways presents conceptual problems arising from the organization of age groups. Through the collection of data about the school pathways of children and youth in residential care who receive basic education from three groups of schools in Portugal, we seek to understand information about school success and failure. Based on an interpretative phenomenological paradigm, this study portrays one of the most problematic situations of the Portuguese educational system. When comparing school failure rates of these children and youth with Portuguese national rates, we realize that the failure rate in the first cycle is 13 times higher, the second cycle is 11 times higher, and the third cycle is six times higher than the national average. We conclude that it is urgent to think about education policies in which inclusion, in addition to being a technical-pedagogical issue, is assumed as an ethical imperative.

Desde 2017/2018 que o sistema educativo português tem vivenciado a sua terceira reforma curricular. É neste contexto que se convidam os líderes pedagógicos a refletir, em contexto de formação, sobre os desafios à mudança e à inovação. Assente nos pressupostos das teorias da aprendizagem e avaliação desenvolvemos a reflexão sobre a necessidade das práticas pedagógicas serem mais coerentes com os desafios sociais. O desenho de investigação assenta numa abordagem qualitativa, na perspectiva do paradigma fenomenológico interpretativo, com recurso à análise de conteúdo. Como conclusões destacamos que os desafios das escolas estão associados à motivação e ao trabalho cooperativo, sendo que os/as diretores/as referem a importância de envolver as lideranças intermédias na redefinição da estratégia e visão de escola. Assim, e apesar da resistência que caracteriza os processos de mudança, as vantagens são claras se é da construção de uma escola inclusiva e democrática que falamos: mais sucesso e mais inclusão.