Professional development of Early Childhood Education teachers: metasearch in the field of teacher training

The qualitative research presented, characterized as meta-research, analyzed the professional development of Early Childhood Education teachers in Brazil, based on theses and dissertations available on the platform of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel and on Laurence Bardin's content analysis methodology. We identified a predominance of qualitative studies, with a variety of data collection methods, and an under-exploration of the Northern region. The analysis highlighted the influence of initial and continuing training, the challenges of starting teaching and working conditions, as well as pointing to a gap in the conceptual definition of teacher professional development, indicating the need for further theoretical study. We emphasize that meta-research such as this contributes significantly to the debate on teacher professional development by highlighting the relevance of theoretical reflection and the formulation of new concepts and categories.