Educational Ideas of Teachers in São Paulo State Schools

This research focused on explaining how ideas about education, on which professional teaching practice is based, vary according to a set of characteristics. As a methodological procedure, a case study was conducted in two state schools (in the center and on the outskirts) in São Paulo, involving twelve teachers in each. The theoretical-conceptual and methodological research tools developed by Maurice Tardif and colleagues, as well as those of Bernard Lahire, were used. It was found that teachers’ ideas are based on the classical humanistic school model with a scientific basis in which teachers were trained, and that teachers resist practices that are contrary to this model.