Introduction¹

The purpose of this text is to analyze the scholarly production on teacher initiation and its connection to the field of adult education, in order to systematize and synthesize the scholarly knowledge produced in this field. We want to examine how research on teacher initiation has used theoretical and methodological contributions from the field of adult education.¹ To achieve this purpose, we conducted a meta-analytic literature review, analyzing doctoral dissertations written in Brazil and Portugal between 2000 and 2021, focusing on the central theme of teacher initiation. The analysis of the dissertations focused on the research objectives, the methodological procedures used, the theoretical framework employed, and the final synthesis of the results.

The recognition of the adult status of beginning teachers in studies of professional development prompted us to pose a series of questions: How has scholarly production on the early stages of the teaching career benefited (or not) from the theoretical and methodological contributions of the field of adult education? What kind of connection and theoretical interface have studies of teacher induction established with the field of adult education research? Which authors and concepts are most frequently used? What issues related to the field of adult education are addressed or neglected in research on the professional development of beginning teachers? How often is there a dialogue between the field of teacher education and the field of adult education? What reasons might explain possible thematic and theoretical overlaps between these two fields of inquiry?

To better organize preliminary responses to these research questions, we have divided our article into three parts: the first discusses major aspects of theoretical production on teacher initiation and adult education; the second is more descriptive, presenting the empirical data constructed during the investigation and the paths taken for its elaboration; the third and final part of the text provides some analytical syndissertations of the data constructed in the research.

Teacher initiation: a distinct period in the career

In recent decades, the literature on the professional development cycles of teachers has attempted to name, characterize, and distinguish the phases/cycles of teachers’ professional lives. In constructing his analytical model, Michael ^{Huberman (1992)} categorizes the phases of the teaching career into five stages: the phase of entering the profession and feeling one’s way; the phase of stabilization and consolidation of the pedagogical repertoire; the phase of diversification, activism, and questioning; the phase of serenity, emotional detachment, and a certain conservatism; and finally, a phase characterized by professional disinvestment and bitterness toward the profession or serenity. ^{Carter et al. (1987)} propose a model consisting of five distinct phases in the teaching career: novice teacher, advanced beginner, competent practitioner, proficient practitioner, and expert teacher. Feiman-Nemser (¹⁹⁹⁹) suggests that the process of professional learning includes three phases: initial education, induction (the transitional period between initial education and entry into the profession), and professional development.

In these theoretical formulations on the subject, a consensus can be observed: teacher induction is understood as a singular period in the teaching career. Extensive international literature has confirmed this dissertation and has attempted to problematize the temporal limits of this phase, its situational specificities, and its role in the professional development of teachers. For some authors, induction is seen as a transitional period between the life of a student and the state of a teacher, between training and the profession, which can contribute significantly to our understanding of how we become teachers (^{NÓVOA, 2022}). Other authors define this transitional period in terms of the challenging nature of the experience of entering the profession, often referred to as a “baptism by fire” (^{KELCHTERMANS; BALLET, 2002}), a “reality shock”, a “practice shock”, and a “transition shock” (VEEMAN, 1984), as well as a struggle for survival (^{HUBERMAN, 1992}). Such labels for the teacher induction experience stem from the fact that novice teachers often struggle with extreme feelings of helplessness, loneliness, strangeness, alienation, insecurity, vulnerability, uncertainty, and ambiguity.

In addition to the shock of reality, teacher induction is portrayed as a period of profound professional learning, with this learning being an essential condition for staying in the profession. Beginning teachers, especially in the first year of their professional insertion, are described as eager learners who are eager to learn their new craft (^{BARTH, 1996}). In their efforts to quickly learn the intricacies of the profession, beginning teachers are faced with two simultaneous tasks: teaching and learning to teach (FEIMAN-NEMSER, 1983). This teacher learning involves aspects of professional identity that go beyond the domain of teaching skills or a narrow understanding of the teacher as someone who instructs. Learning to be a teacher involves a broader view of the teaching role, i.e., learning to think like a teacher, learning to know oneself as a teacher, learning to feel like a teacher, and learning to act like a teacher (^{Feiman-Nemser, 2001}).

The elements presented above point to the central role that the induction phase plays in the process of becoming a teacher. The beginning of a teaching career is not just a leap between initial and continuing education but has a distinctive and influential character in the process of professional maturation. The early years as a beginning teacher are crucial in the professional life of educators because they can shape in many ways the relationship with students, knowledge, colleagues, the school, and the profession as a whole. In this sense, it may be the most important time in the formation of a teacher and the construction of a professional identity (^{NÓVOA, 2022}).

Putting this academic debate into perspective, it seemed important to consider that beginning teachers are adult individuals (often young adults), and this stage of the human developmental life cycle should be considered in studies that examine the processes of teacher formation at the beginning of their careers. Teachers are beginners in their careers, but not in life, as they have accumulated a significant set of formative experiences before assuming the role of teacher in schools. In this regard, ^{Peterson, Clark and Dickson (1990)} recognize the need to study the learning process of teachers as adults. Furthermore, ^{Alarcão and Roldão (2008)} visualize the processes of personal and professional construction and improvement in teaching from the perspective of adult development.

In light of this, theoretical models need to describe, clarify and problematize the nature of change processes in adult individuals (^{CARLOS MARCELO, 1999}). Similarly, ^{Oja (1991)} has demonstrated the usefulness of the scientific knowledge produced in studies of adult learning and development in the field of teacher education. These authors point to the need to incorporate the principles, theories, and models developed in the field of adult education over the past 40 years into studies of teacher education and development. The research presented in this article is consistent with this assumption and seeks to contribute to the discussion of the topic.

Adult Education: A Field and a Problematic

In this section of the article, we aim to highlight some of the central issues in the field of adult education to provide a framework for analyzing the data constructed in the research. In doing so, we also aim to outline the contours of the field of adult education to clarify aspects of its uniqueness concerning other fields of investigation. The idea of a distinct field designates a social reality of educational practices with its own characteristics, as well as systematic practices of reflection and the production of new knowledge, specifically within a specific field of inquiry (^{CANÁRIO, 2013}).

As Rui ^{Canário (2013)} emphasizes, the historical emergence of adult education began in the 19th century and was associated with two major processes: the development of mass social movements (such as the labor movement), which laid the foundation for the vitality of popular education, and the consolidation of national school systems, which led to the emergence of second-chance education for adults. However, it was after World War II that adult education experienced a significant increase, no longer being limited to a small number of individuals or specific socio-professional or socio-cultural categories (such as individuals with low educational attainment), but rather being proposed or even imposed on everyone (^{CANÁRIO, 2013}; ^{AVANZANI, 1996}).

In this new context, since the 1960s, four poles have structured the territory of social practices in adult education: literacy and basic education, vocational training, local development, and socio-cultural animation. The first pole corresponds to the development of educational opportunities for non-literate and low-literate adults; the second pole involves continuous training processes aimed at the rapid (re)qualification of the workforce; the third pole interfaces education and development and refers to practices that link adult education and local development with direct participation from stakeholders, in a comprehensive, integrated, and sustainable perspective; the fourth pole arises from the social changes characterizing urban life, including the so-called “revolution of social times” (leisure, free time), opening up space for recognizing the educational nature of experiences in diverse social contexts that share the common characteristic of being relatively unfamiliar and distant from the traditional school environment (^{CANÁRIO, 2013}).

In this context of expanding adult education, UNESCO played a crucial role in the induction and global expansion of policies focused on adult education. According to ^{Finger and Asún (2001)}, UNESCO has played and continues to play a significant role in the field of adult education, particularly in terms of visibility and recognition. Since the 1960s, designated as the “development decade”, UNESCO has clarified its perspective: education, science, and culture should be placed in the service of the development of countries and peoples. In summary, UNESCO discourse and philosophy regarding adult education are typical of the development decade and a global action agenda with the capacity to influence political orientations worldwide. In this movement, literacy and basic adult education have received particular attention (^{FINGER; ASÚN, 2001}).

From the 1970s onwards, despite the predominance of literacy issues and the literacy levels of adults with low educational attainment, lifelong learning gained prominence in the development of policies disseminated by UNESCO. What would later be called the “lifelong learning movement” was largely based on knowledge and reflection in the field of adult education, particularly popular education. The core idea of lifelong learning is to create a society where everyone is continuously learning from early life to later life, in different institutions (not just schools), in learning communities, and in various social settings. Lifelong learning differs from traditional (mostly school-based) education in several aspects: it recognizes the learners’ experiences in an attempt to ensure access and educational success for all; it values a democratic teaching relationship that starts with the learner as the focal point, considering them as subjects; it promotes integrated educational processes, acknowledging the complementarity of the exact sciences and humanities so that art and technology are integrated into the process of human development (^{CANÁRIO, 2013}; ^{FINGER; ASÚN, 2001}).

UNESCO has based its discourse on the lifelong learning movement on the thinking of renowned authors in the field of education, particularly Paulo Freire. In this sense, UNESCO adopted the premise that education occurs at all times and in all spaces throughout life, leading to the recognition of the complementarity of various educational modalities: informal education, non-formal education, and formal education. Education is considered a universal basic right for all and aims to improve the quality of life through the humanization of development (^{FINGER; ASÚN, 2001}). Paulo ^{Freire (1993)} understood that the main reason for lifelong learning is not political or economic but rather related to the incompleteness of the human being.

The dominance of a school-centered view of education, alongside the increasing visibility of non-formal educational processes from the second half of the 20th century, necessitated the need to distinguish and define educational modalities. These non-formal educational processes can be represented by the image of the non-visible face of the moon (^{CANÁRIO, 2006}). In this context, attention is drawn to the valuable heritage and potential of these educational experiences (^{CANÁRIO, 2006}). According to the author, non-formal education is understood within the scope of “educational situations” (non-formal or informal) that differ from the “school format” and are situated on a continuum. Understanding education as a broad, comprehensive process and the importance of addressing different educational modalities present in social practices, as a way to overcome the hegemony of the school form, has allowed for the emergence of a typology of educational modalities referred to as formal, non-formal, and informal education. To better grasp this idea of a continuum that integrates and articulates different layers of educational situations, it is important to distinguish each of them. Formal education is characterized by intentionality and structure, usually found in situations characterized by the school form, which can occur within and outside of school, based on the asymmetry of the teacher-student relationship, pre-structured programs and schedules, and the existence of evaluation and certification processes. Non-formal education is characterized by flexibility in schedules, programs, and locations, often based on volunteerism and valuing group dynamics. Reciprocity and the intention to create educational situations tailored to contexts and participants, respecting their peculiarities, prevail in these processes. Informal education, on the other hand, encompasses all potentially educational situations, even if not consciously or intentionally perceived by those involved, and corresponds to loosely structured and organized everyday situations in the realms of family, personal, social, and professional life. The continuum characterizing educational modalities suggests possibilities of hybridity and the difficulty of establishing clear boundaries.

Gaston Pineau’s (1988) tri-polar theory of education is based on this broad perspective of the educational process. It recognizes the importance of socialization, interaction, and exchanges with others (hetero-education), the influence of the environment and the surrounding space (eco-education), and the reflection carried out by the individual themselves to give meaning to and appropriate their life experiences (self-education). According to ^{Pineau (1988)} and ^{Galvani (1997)}, self-education is a component of a tri-polar process led by three interdependent masters: the individual themselves (self-education), others (hetero-education), and things (eco-education). Self-education, although carried out by the individual, consists of a dialectical relationship between the individual and the social, as the relationships with others shape life experiences and the thinking patterns mobilized in the individual’s reflection have considerable social and cultural influence. This theory focuses on the educational process and allows us to understand the status of the learning subject concerning themselves, the world, and others. Self-education is based on a process in which the individual may dispense with the pedagogue, merging with their own life cycle, and represents unique paths of acquiring and building autonomy (^{CANÁRIO, 2013}). The adult in a learning situation carries a life history and experiences with multiple dimensions, particularly in the professional domain. Therefore, “rather than thinking about how to educate this adult, it is important to reflect on how they educate themselves, that is, how they appropriate their experiential heritage through a dynamic of retrospective understanding” (^{NÓVOA, 1988}, p. 128).

The centrality of life history in adult education stems from the fact that adults cannot withdraw from life to learn (^{FERNANDEZ, 2006}), because the process of education is intrinsic to and simultaneous with life. This is because “no one educates and forms himself first and then lives, participates in the social world and asserts himself as an active citizen in a democratic context” (^{LIMA, 2020}, p. 203). The comprehensiveness and continuity of the educational process, as well as the centrality of the individual in this dynamic, gain consistency based on research focused on life stories (^{DOMINICÉ, 1990}). The use of the biographical approach in research and teaching has made it possible to understand the diversity and complexity of educational dynamics and to define some guiding principles in the field of adult education.

The above principles demonstrate the importance of experiential learning in the process of human development from an anthropological perspective. Experiential learning is the result of an individual’s self-work, interaction with others, and the environment when confronted with events that generate problems and challenges that require changes in patterns of thought and action (^{JOSSO, 1991}). Experiential learning occurs in all times and spaces of life (family, work, leisure, and school); it is linked to the heritage of experiences; it allows the development of knowledge, understanding, and skills in instrumental, relational, and emotional domains; and it influences identity and existential dimensions. When discussing experiential learning, the basic assumption is that learning happens through experience (^{CAVACO, 2009}). According to ^{Pineau (1989)}, experiential learning is learning through direct yet reflective contact. It is direct because it does not involve the mediation of trainers, programs, books, or words.

Therefore, we aim to examine how research on teacher induction, as documented in doctoral dissertations, has or has not used theoretical contributions from the field of adult education. In the following section, we present data that can help clarify this question.

Research Methodology and Procedures

The research was based on a qualitative paradigm, specifically a meta-analytic bibliographic study, with a descriptive-interpretive approach. The empirical material consisted of doctoral dissertations written in Brazil and Portugal between 2000 and 2021.

As a first approach to the analysis of the scientific production on teacher initiation, we tried to determine if our central research question had already been investigated in other studies in this field. For this purpose, we conducted a survey of “state-of-the-art” research that aimed to inventory, describe, and analyze the theoretical production of teacher initiation in Brazil over the last 15 years. In chronological order, the following references were found ^{Mariano (2006)}, ^{Papi and Martins (2009)}, ^{Corrêa and Portela (2012)}, ^{Nunes and Cardoso (2013)}, ^{Cardoso et al. (2017)}, ^{Rocha (2020)}, and ^{Almeida et al. (2020)}.

After reading all this material, we found that most of the studies aimed to analyze more general and panoramic aspects of the theoretical production on teacher initiation in Brazil, such as thematic gaps and recurrences, the theoretical frameworks used, the geographical location of the production, the dissemination outlets (conference proceedings, scientific journals, repositories), the temporality of the production, and the research methodologies employed. Only one of these studies focused on a more specific topic: the analysis of scientific production related to mentoring programs from 2005 to 2014 (^{CARDOSO et al., 2017}). It was noted that none of these studies addressed the central question of our investigation. This led us to wonder whether the issue of adult individuals and/or adult education is truly overlooked in research on beginning teachers, or whether the authors of these meta-analytic studies did not consider this issue relevant.

We then proceeded with the survey of doctoral dissertations in the Open Access Scientific Repository of Portugal (RCAAP). This repository was chosen because it brings together a significant part of the academic and scientific literature produced in both countries. The study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of how doctoral dissertations on teacher induction produced in Brazil and Portugal between 2000 and 2021 have engaged with the field of adult education. The decision to work exclusively with doctoral dissertations was mainly based on the recognition that this type of academic production allows greater possibilities for theoretical analysis and the development of sophisticated reflections on empirical data.

For the dissertation search, we defined two main sets of search terms. The first set of descriptors consisted of keywords closely related to the field of adult education studies: adult education/ lifelong learning/ continuing education/ andragogy/ experiential learning/ adult learning/ lifelong education/ adult education and training/ youth and adult education/ life stories. In this search, we did not find any studies directly related to the topic of teacher induction. This already indicates a limited interface between adult education studies and studies on teacher initiation.

The second block of search terms consisted of keywords related to the field of teacher initiation studies, including teacher initiation/ novice teacher/ teacher learning/ professional induction/ professional development/ early career/ professional identity/ professional socialization/ teaching profession/ teaching work/ teacher education. We prioritized papers that focused on elementary teachers who had completed their undergraduate degrees and were in the early years of their teaching careers.

Using these search parameters, we identified a total of 18 doctoral dissertations, of which 14 were conducted in Brazil and four in Portugal, all of which were identified using the second block of search terms.

For a panoramic analysis of the data, we carried out two approaches to examine the content of the 18 dissertations. The first approach consisted of reading the titles, abstracts, and keywords. The second approach involved reading specific sections of the dissertations, specifically the introduction, methodology, and concluding remarks. Some dissertations had to be read in their entirety because the concluding remarks provided only descriptions of what had been done in the research process and lacked more substantial theoretical and methodological syndissertations related to the research object. For each of these approaches, analysis grids were created consisting of the following axes: research objectives/ guiding questions/ research methods/ theoretical framework/ syndissertations, and conclusions. These grids were used to organize and categorize the data collected.

Presentation of overall survey data

In terms of research topics, we found that the majority of the dissertations focused on the challenges and difficulties faced by beginning teachers. Of the 18 dissertations, six have this as their central focus, while five others address this issue as a complementary topic. In other words, a total of 11 dissertations examine, at least in part, the aspect of entering the teaching profession. This recurrence is also found in other meta-analytic studies on teacher entry (Papi & Martins, 2010; ^{Nunes & Cardoso, 2013}).

As for the other studies, one focuses on teacher learning, one on professional socialization processes, one on teachers’ professional development, two on professional induction policies and programs, one on the link between generational belonging (being young) and teacher induction, four on the (dis)continuity between initial education and the challenges of teacher induction, and two studies analyze the domain of subject-specific knowledge and pedagogical practices of novice teachers. In this review, we note the very limited investment in studies that aim to problematize the interfaces and connections between generational belonging (being an adult) and early career experiences.

Only one of the dissertations explicitly addresses the relationship between generational belonging and teacher initiation as a central research focus. Specifically, this dissertation seeks to problematize the intersection of two dimensions of the condition of many novice teachers: being young and inexperienced in the profession. It should be noted, however, that the author of this dissertation does not draw from the adult education literature, but rather from studies in the sociology of youth. Nevertheless, we recognize a thematic proximity to the issue of adult education, particularly because it recognizes the need to examine the relationship between life cycles, teacher education, and teacher induction.

In terms of the temporal distribution of dissertations, there is a concentration of production between 2014 and 2019, with a notable peak in 2017. This trend was also observed in the ^{Almeida et al. (2020)} study. The graph below illustrates this evolutionary aspect of academic production:

Source: Prepared by the authors.

Graph 1 Number of dissertations per year 

Regarding the research identified in Portugal, there seems to be a certain dispersion of studies when considering the overall timeline. Of the four dissertations carried out in this country, three were carried out between 2004 and 2011, with only one falling within the period of higher academic production. We lack additional elements that would allow us to objectively understand the motivating reasons for the differences between the two countries, especially regarding the temporal evolution of this academic production.

In the case of Brazil, it seems that the significant participation of Brazilian researchers in the International Congress of Novice Teachers, the dissemination of the works of Professor Carlos Marcelo Garcia - as well as of international authors introduced to the Brazilian context by the aforementioned researcher - and his frequent participation in academic events in Brazil, have contributed decisively to boosting the research production on teacher initiation. This hypothesis is supported by comparing the citation frequency of this author’s texts in the dissertations produced in Brazil with those produced in Portugal. Of the Portuguese dissertations, two of them contain references to a single text by this author, and in one dissertation the author is mentioned twice, but only briefly. On the other hand, one Brazilian dissertation by a Brazilian author stands out because it refers to five works by Professor Garcia and has a much higher incidence of citations than the other dissertations conducted in Portugal.

Of the 18 dissertations identified, 16 were conducted in education graduate programs and two in geography graduate programs, both located in Brazil. This indicates that non-education graduate programs have also addressed issues of teacher initiation, highlighting unique aspects of the professional integration of teachers from different disciplinary fields, focusing on the pedagogical practices of novice teachers in specific subjects. The focus on teacher initiation within disciplinary fields is evident in the diversity of the fields to which the teachers belong: two dissertations address novice teachers in geography, two in mathematics, one in history, one in physical education, and one in chemistry.

Regarding the geographical location of the dissertations, in the case of Brazil, the Southeast region had the highest number, with a total of nine dissertations, seven in the state of São Paulo and two in Minas Gerais. Two dissertations are from the South region, both in Rio Grande do Sul. One dissertation was carried out in the northeastern region, in the state of Paraíba; two in the central-western region, one in Goiás, and one in the Federal District. These data show a clear concentration of dissertations from the Southeast region, especially in the State of São Paulo. In contrast, no dissertations were produced in the northern region of Brazil. The tendency for dissertations to be concentrated in the Southeast region, especially in São Paulo, is also observed in other similar studies (^{Rocha, 2020}; ^{Almeida et al., 2020}). This can be explained mainly by the greater number of graduate programs in education in this region.

Regarding the number of dissertations per university, the data indicate a concentration of works in the Education Graduate Program of PUC-SP (Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo), in contrast to other studies that have identified UFSCAR (Federal University of São Carlos) as the institution with the most significant number of dissertations on teacher induction (^{Almeida et al., 2020}).

In Portugal, of the four dissertations found on novice teachers in Portuguese, two were conducted in the Lisbon region (Institute of Education, University of Lisbon), one in the Trás-os-Montes region (University of Trás-osMontes and Alto Douro), and one in the Algarve region (University of Algarve). These data do not allow us to identify possible trends, recurrences, and/or gaps in research production concerning geographical and institutional location. The most we can say is that the affiliation of Professor António Nóvoa to the Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon could be seen as a motivating factor for the production of dissertations on teacher initiation at the University of Lisbon, given his recent strong involvement in discussions on this topic.

In terms of the types of research methods used, the constructed data show a hegemony of qualitative approaches with a phenomenological and hermeneutic focus. Only one study adopted a critical-dialectical perspective supported by historical materialism. Of the 18 dissertations analyzed, 13 used qualitative research premises. Three of them claimed to develop qualitative-quantitative research, and only one study used predominantly quantitative research premises. In the cases of the dissertations that claimed to be qualitative-quantitative research, the majority justified this framework based on the use of questionnaires to define and characterize the research subjects or as an exploratory action in the research field aimed at informing decisions about the future directions of the research. These studies predominantly used qualitative research tools, thus aligning them with a qualitative research framework. This further reinforces the hegemony of qualitative research methods in teacher induction studies.

The role of the issue of adult education in the dissertations

In order to verify the presence/absence of discussions related to the field of adult education, we conducted an initial search for the words adult(s) and their English equivalents in the Word Office text editor. In this broader perspective, the following results were obtained: of the 18 dissertations, six did not mention these words in the keywords, body of the text, references or appendices. In seven dissertations, the issue of adult education was presented superficially, mainly in the context of the contextualization of the research object. In three dissertations, the issues of adult education and adult learners were addressed more consistently, although still as complementary themes. Only one dissertation focused on the central issue of the condition of young adult teachers as beginners. This first survey already indicated a theoretical and thematic incipient articulation between the fields of teacher education, adult education, and adult learners.

In contrast, in the Brazilian context, adult education has been more strongly associated with the field of Youth and Adult Education (EJA), historically been linked to the literacy needs of the population with low educational attainment. As Soares and Pedroso (2016) remind us, the field of Youth and Adult Education in Brazil has been established through ongoing tensions regarding the right to education for this population, given the denial of educational opportunities to young and adult individuals who, throughout their lives, have not had access to education or have interrupted their studies for various reasons. This direct connection between adult education and EJA, observed in the Brazilian context, was evident in our search for dissertations on teacher initiation using descriptors specific to the field of Adult Education. Several studies on teacher education with an interface between adult education and EJA were found. However, all of these studies focused on the education and training of teachers/educators who work with EJA students, with none of them addressing the topic of early career teaching.

Regarding the theoretical frameworks used in the field of Adult Education, we identified authors whose work relates to two major the-matic groups: the first group is linked to issues related to stages/phases of adult development, defining adult identity/personhood, transition processes into adulthood, and the definition of the field of Adult Education. The second group is more directly related to adult learning, the peculiarities of adult learning processes, adult learning psychology, and how adults learn. The overwhelming majority of cited authors come from Anglo-Saxon and Francophone backgrounds. Only one work by Brazilian authors specifically addressed adult teacher learning. It is also important to note that about 80% of the works cited in the dissertations on adult education, development, identity, and learning were from studies conducted in Portugal. Additionally, there were a very limited number of authors (24) and references (27) on these topics cited across the 18 dissertations. The table below presents all the texts by authors discussing adult education, development, identity, and learning identified in the 18 dissertations:

When it comes to the number of authors cited in the dissertations that address the connections between teacher initiation, professional development, and adult education, we found a very limited number of authors. They are: ^{Nóvoa (1988)}, Oja (1989), Marcelo (1999), ^{Cavaco (1995)}, ^{Huberman (1989)}, Alarcão, Roldão (2006), ^{Canário (2007)}, Dal-Forno, Rinaldi, and Reali (2008), and Rinaldi (2009), Isaia, Maciel, Bolzan (2011). The last three texts are the only references by Brazilian authors. In this set of citations found in the 18 dissertations, there is one text by a British author, one by a Spanish author, one by a Swiss author, four texts by Portuguese authors, and two by Brazilian authors.

In addition to the limited number of authors and texts that discuss the connections between teacher initiation and adult education, it is striking how briefly these reflections appear in the dissertations. They are often limited to a single paragraph or sentence, mentioned sporadically in literature reviews, and often detached from the data analysis process and/ or the construction of the research object. This pattern reinforces what we have been pointing out throughout the article: the peripheral, lateral, and complementary position of studies on adult learners, formation, and learning in the dissertations under analysis.

In the citations found in the dissertations, the authors draw attention to the need to reflect on the connections between the life cycle and professional development processes, life cycles and teaching career cycles, the recognition of adult teachers in continuous formation processes, teacher autonomy in managing their formation strategies (self-formation), the recognition of the specific context of adult development, the centrality of self-formation and hetero-formation in teacher professional development processes, adult learning psychology, processes of change in adults, aspects of transition to adulthood, adults’ interest in practical aspects and know-how in continuous formation processes, and the recognition of life histories in teacher education.

In addition to the broader survey of the presence/absence of citations of the words adult(s) in the dissertations, as well as authors associated with the field of adult education, formation, and adult learning, we conducted a similar search using the Word Office word search tool to identify the recurrence of concepts that are important in the field of adult education. These concepts include andragogy, interformation, self-formation, lifelong learning/permanent education (LL/PE), non-formal education (NFE), informal education, and adult learning. In this search, we obtained the results shown in the graph below:

Despite the recognition that the dissertations analyzed incorporate valuable concepts from the field of adult education, few dissertations develop these concepts in depth. Furthermore, these concepts are often used to contextualize the research object, mentioned briefly, and with little organic connection to the central theme of the research. It is evident that in none of the dissertations are these concepts taken as central drivers for the development of the research and the analysis of the data. It is, therefore, no coincidence that they do not appear in the titles and keywords of the dissertations. In the abstracts, there was only one mention (in one abstract) of informal education and learning.

Figure 2 also shows a certain imbalance in the presence of these concepts in the dissertations analyzed. Concepts related to lifelong learning were predominant. The hegemony of these concepts seems to be directly related to the importance of the topic of teacher professional development in discussions about teacher education, especially in the debate about the professional development of teachers. This concept has the clearest connection and interface with adult education studies. On the other hand, the concepts of “andragogy” and “alienation” are virtually absent in the dissertations analyzed.

Source: prepared by the authors

Graph 2 Core concepts of the field of adult education studies 

Other concepts are very tentatively presented in the dissertations, especially adult education. Only three of them develop this theme. Most of the time, attention is focused on what novice teachers learn in induction programs or through professional experience. There is virtually no discussion of how adults learn, given their adult status. Thus, issues related to the psychology of adult learning are virtually absent from the dissertations reviewed.

Concepts that draw attention to less institutionalized aspects of teacher learning (informal education, non-formal education, and interformation) are emphasized in more than half of the dissertations, which we consider significant. Equally important is the number of studies that deal with the concept of self-formation (one-third of the dissertations), which indicates a certain recognition of the teacher as an adult who plays a fundamental role in building more biographical formative trajectories and producing more authorial meanings in the process of becoming a teacher. However, these types of formative practices are used in the dissertations without more consistent interfaces with the theoretical debate on the specificities of adulthood and the process of adult education, in particular a more comprehensive experiential education that includes psychological, anthropological, sociological, and philosophical dimensions.

The recognition of non-formal educational processes suggests that experiential education has an important place in the training and professional development of beginning teachers. Although the dissertations do not address experiential education in the terms present in the debate on adult education - linked to the dimensions of self, hetero, and eco-formation - they are presented based on the recognition and analytical effort to understand the meanings constructed by novice teachers regarding their experiences of professional insertion. Some indications highlight the conception of the novice teacher as an adult who incorporates a knowledge base linked to their experience and identity. The dissertations, by highlighting the predominantly solitary nature of the experience of entering the profession, the constant mobilization of self-formation, the engagement in networks of (self)participatory formation, and the types of professional learning experienced - many of which are tacit, determined by the predominance of practical learning - shed light on aspects of experiential education and its importance in the professional development processes of teachers in the early stages of their careers.

Concerning experiential education, it is important to note that in most of the dissertations, the theme of life stories is not considered a central issue in the development of research, either in the use of research tools or in the construction of training processes and interventions. To give an idea of what we are talking about, only one dissertation (developed in Portugal) mentions the term “life stories” in the keywords. Furthermore, only one dissertation mentions the use of a biographical approach, and four dissertations state that the authors used narrative interviews.

Concluding remarks

In this final section of the article, we will attempt to synthesize and analyze the data from the research described so far to raise questions for the field of teacher induction research. Specifically, we will attempt to problematize some possibilities for connections between the research fields of teacher induction and adult education that we believe are fruitful for advancing research on novice teachers.

We would like to offer some reflections on the symbolic boundaries of the research/ intervention fields of adult education and teacher education. In recent decades, these two scientific fields, integrated within the field of education, have developed their autonomy and theoretical frameworks to a large extent through the specific way they construct their research objects and “question the reality of the field of practices they study” (^{CANÁRIO, 2005}, p. 27). Adult education, historically linked to popular education, is based on a broad perspective of educational processes, recognizing their diversity and complexity. In this sense, it criticizes the monopoly of the school as an educational institution and emphasizes the complementarity of informal, non-formal, and formal education in learning, as well as hetero-eco-autoformation and experiential learning. Teacher education, due to the professional context of these practitioners, is more closely associated with institutionalized education, educational policies, the notion of the school as the central locus of continuous teacher education, and the emphasis on formal education in initial and continuing teacher education (undergraduate education, master’s degrees, specialization programs).

As a result of these unique historical origins, it is evident that both fields have constructed specific problems, objects of research, and scientific knowledge, contributing to the “diversity of possible ‘perspectives’ on the social” (^{CANÁRIO, 2005}, p. 25) and education. It is easy to observe in scientific journals, book publications, conferences, scientific events, and research communities that research on teacher education and adult education has gained its own substance.

On the other hand, given this reflection, it is understood that it would be fruitful for the field of research on teacher education, especially concerning the study of teacher initiation, to strengthen the dialogue with the field of adult education, recognizing the importance of “multiplying the possibility of multi-referential perspectives” (^{CANÁRIO, 2005}, p. 25) on educational phenomena. First and foremost, we believe it is necessary to recognize the uniqueness of the adult learner, considering life cycles and experiential learning, as well as the contribution of a comprehensive approach to educational processes - one that recognizes their diversity, complexity, and the interdependence between heteroformation, ecoformation, and self-formation - concerning the professional development of novice teachers.

The increased dialogue between these domains would involve the articulation with knowledge about adult education, particularly the processes of learning and their connection to life experience and teacher professional development. There is extensive international literature on adult learning and education that has been largely unexplored in the dissertations, which could help us understand the various dimensions of novice teachers’ learning: what, how, why, where, with whom, and when do novice teachers learn? The limited engagement with this literature may, in part, explain why the analyses in the dissertations primarily focused on understanding what novice teachers learn during the early stages of their teaching careers. As a result, other dimensions of professional learning experienced by novice teachers, such as diversity and the richness of life contexts and experiences, particularly as adult individuals with extensive schooling experiences as students, were overlooked.

This relative silence on the topic of adult education and learning is also reflected in the limited engagement with authors from the field of adult education, particularly in relation to andragogy, which has played a crucial role in defining specific parameters for adult education and learning, as well as in the development of alternative educational practices that have critiqued, enriched, and surpassed the traditional schooling model (^{CANÁRIO, 2013}). One could infer that this absence is due, at least in part, to the criticisms that the andragogical model has faced in recent decades. These criticisms argue that, contrary to what the model suggests, education is a lifelong process of self-construction for all individuals, not just adults, and thus the principles inherent in the andragogical model are valid for all individuals regardless of age. This perspective diminishes the significant differences between teaching and learning processes for children and adults, as such diversity is more a matter of degree than of nature. In transitioning from a perspective of disjunction to one of synthesis, adult education would be part of a general theory of human development (apud ^{CANÁRIO, 2013} apud MONTEIL, 1985). This observation suggests a closer dialogue with theories of human development, which is not recurrently observed in the dissertations. Specifically, only one dissertation engages more consistently with Vygotsky’s theory of human development.

Another point we would like to address, based on the data from our research, relates to the potential of a comprehensive approach to education and training in the discussion of novice teacher development. The premise that education and training occur in all times and spaces of life, in complementary and interdependent processes that combine formal, non-formal, and informal education, as well as heteroformation, ecoformation, and self-formation, could inspire new directions for research on teacher initiation. The dissertations do not adequately explore aspects of the relationship between teacher initiation, professional development, and formative processes from a comprehensive perspective. If we consider teacher professional development as the professional growth of teachers, resulting from their experiences and systematic analysis of their own practice, we can infer that there are non-formal and informal educational processes and acquired experiences that novice teachers mobilize to develop their actions and reflections within the context of their initial professional engagement.

Although we recognize that the dissertations frequently use the concept of lifelong education/training in problematizing their research objects, this mobilization remains closely tied to the notion of school-centered training. This is justifiable as the school plays a fundamental role in the continuous training experiences of novice teachers. When we speak of school-centered training, we understand that this educational institution becomes the primary site for training in relation to other formative actions (^{IMBERNÓN, 2006}).

While we do not deny the relevance of the school as a site for teacher training, we believe that a comprehensive perspective on education and training challenges this centrality. Firstly, this perspective is associated with a critique of the hegemony of the school and the schooling model, among other aspects, due to the coercive imposition of uniform teaching processes and the dichotomy between learning times/ spaces and action times/spaces. Secondly, this perspective recognizes and values experiential knowledge acquired in various life contexts, such as family, cultural spaces, political participation, religious experiences, urban environments, learning communities, and work. The idea of life experience as the main resource for the educational process aligns with the broad perspective of adult education, which is more prevalent in Portugal and has been discussed in this article. By acknowledging the vast iceberg of non-formalized and/or deliberate educational phenomena, beyond the hegemony and omnipresence of the schooling model, we can transcend a dichotomous division between educational and non-educational institutions (^{CANÁRIO, 2013}).

In this regard, we believe it would be fruitful for research on teacher initiation to question the relevance of formative experiences outside the school environment in the professional development of novice teachers. Conversely, to what extent can non-formal and informal educational experiences hinder the discovery of the profession and the ability to confront the shock of reality? Which non-school institutions, groups, and spaces carry more weight in the continuous training process of novice teachers, enabling the development of theoretical-practical repertoire that can be mobilized in facing the dilemmas and challenges of teacher initiation?

One possible direction for expanding the research horizon would be to incorporate methodologies that aim to understand and relate life history, formative processes, and the unique moment of beginning a teaching career. The dissertations clearly demonstrated a recurrence of synchronic studies that focused on teachers’ experiences during the early stages of their careers, invariably within the school context or in continuation of their initial academic training. The more diachronic aspects of formative processes did not receive prominent attention in the dissertations, limited to linking two moments of the formative trajectory (beginning of the career and initial training). Little investment was made in attempting to capture the novice teacher, as an adult, in the entirety of what their life has allowed them to learn (DOMINICÉ, 1998), and in connecting these elements with the processes of professional learning during the early stages of their career and the confrontation with the shock of reality.

Finally, we want to reaffirm the need for advancement in the theoretical and thematic dialogue between the academic and scientific fields of adult education and teacher training. We believe that such interfaces and connections can open up horizons of investigation that have been relatively unexplored in the domain of research on teacher initiation. Recognizing novice teachers as adult individuals with life experiences, unique ways of learning, and their own agenda of self-formation (whether shared or not) can contribute significantly to the debate on initial and continuing training policies for novice teachers. It can broaden the understanding of the transition shock from being a student to becoming a teacher, the phenomenon of professional retention/ attrition during the early stages of a career, and the advances and setbacks in the processes of exploration-discovery-stabilization in the teaching profession.