Coffee With Principle in a Cold Cup: The Construction of the Foreign Teacher in Portugal

This research seeks to understand the integration challenges faced by foreign teachers in Portugal, particularly with regard to the epistemological transformations surrounding their professional identity. It aims to investigate, within the framework of contemporary educational sciences—especially Edgar Morin's Theory of Complexity (2001)—the phenomenological factors that contribute to the effects of changes occurring in didactic–pedagogical processes related to the (re)construction of the socioprofessional identity profile and the discursive practice of foreign teachers, particularly in basic and secondary schools within the Portuguese Education System. The study is based on the premise that it is important to identify and analyze the profile of foreign teachers in order to detect and understand how their professional identity is affected in contexts of foreign professional practice (Gao, 2010; Leigh, 2019; Yip et al., 2019). It aims to contribute to the examination of changes related to the professional and cultural identity of immigrant teachers, as well as to didactic adaptations shaped by idiosyncratic constructs of pedagogical knowledge present in the development of their practice. The methodology adopted is qualitative in nature, employing observation, focus groups, and documentary analysis techniques. The research will be conducted in mainland Portugal with teachers from public and private basic and secondary schools. As expected outcomes, the study seeks to emphasize the importance of new public policies necessary to support the development of identity integration among foreign teachers in Portugal, as well as to contribute to the advancement of innovative pedagogical practices justified by the multicultural context inherent to (im)migration, diversity, inclusion, and contemporary teacher professional development.