摘要:This study is aimed at investigating the process of professional development of teachers at the beginning of their careers, working in elementary education in a public school system. A case study was conducted, based on a critical/dialectical approach, making use of the focal group, participating observation and semi-structured interviews, as instruments for data collection. The results reveal that the context of decentralizing policies in which the teachers are included negatively influences their professional development. This observation offers a vision of how such policies are assimilated by the beginners, contributing towards the advancement of studies on the subject.