This study examined the contribution of a continuing education program on the quality of its teachers' pedagogic practices, with the aim of improving them, in a municipal daycare in Fortaleza. It was based on Novoa (1997) and Shön (1997) and it may be characterized as a qualitative collaborative action research, developed in the daycare where those teachers worked. The continuing education program was planned and developed considering the subjects indicated by the teachers as the themes which would be the target of studies and intervention in that daycare. Considering these themes, study plans were drawn up, containing the objectives of each meeting and the methodology. The plan indicated the books and articles that should be read and discussed in the meetings. A technique called "videoformation" by Ibiapina (2008) was used, which made possible that teachers analyzed their own practices. The results taken from a qualitative data investigation indicated that, during the ten meetings, the teachers assessed their practices, considering the knowledge that was being built and they simultaneously introduced changes in their practices in order to improve their quality. After the formation was over, by means of oral and written statements, the teachers revealed a high degree of satisfaction with the formation in which they actively participated. The researchers observed changes in the teachers' practices after finishing the continuing education program. Since they identified changes in the daycare routines, it is possible to infer that a collaborative work between researchers and teachers may be effective for improving the quality of pedagogic practices in daycares.
teacher's continuing education; daycare; collaborative work