The 3rd Colloquium on Curricular and Pedagogical Challenges in Teacher Training: Freedom and Social Justice, co-organised by CIEC – Centre for Research in Child Studies and the Centre for Research in Education (CIEd), took place on 6 December at the Institute of Education.

The event had more than 100 registered participants, including students, researchers and teachers from pre-school, primary, secondary and higher education. On the one hand, it was associated with the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of 25 April and the University of Minho, and on the other, it was a moment to pay tribute to the work of Jurjo Torres Santomé, from the University of A Coruña, and a book was launched in his honour.

Under the theme ‘Freedom and Social Justice’, the Colloquium sought to debate the educational advances of democracy in Portugal in the post-25 April period, with a particular focus on curricular, pedagogical and teacher training issues. Participants had the opportunity to debate the challenges facing the valorisation and dignification of the profession, the construction of educational and training policies and practices that make teachers’ voices and their epistemological authority visible, in order to respond to and support more inclusive practices in schools that promote educational success. Education was reaffirmed as the profession of the future, essential to building stronger, more inclusive and more democratic societies.

The conference was organised by CIEC researchers Maria Assunção Flores, Diana Pereira, Cláudia Pinheiro and Eva Lopes Fernandes and CIEd researchers Maria Alfredo Moreira and Lia Oliveira.