Integrated member

Lourdes Mata

Associate Professor

Biographical Note

Lourdes Mata has an initial training in early childhood education, having later obtained a master’s degree in Educational Psychology and a PhD in Child Studies. She is currently Associate Professor at Ispa-Instituto Universitário, Co-director of the Masters in Preschool Education and member of the research center in education. She has collaborated with the Ministry of Education as an author, trainer and consultant about the curriculum for pre-school education and the organization of documents that support its implementation. She has published several books, book chapters and also papers in national and international journals aimed at understanding development and learning, in particular the individual and contextual variables that are central to quality in education.

Research Interests

Lourdes Mata main research interests are directed towards the understanding of development and learning processes in childhood. Therefore, domains such as family involvement in education, motivation, the organization of the educational environments in ECEC contexts, and teachers practices stand out among the topics covered in their research.

Relevant Publications

Cabral, S., Mata, L. & Peixoto, F. (2024). Preparing pre-service teachers for family engagement: Insights from the initial teacher education syllabus. Education Sciences, 14, 674. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14060674

Mata, L. (2024). “Prontidão ou Transição? Olhares sobre a entrada na escola” [‘Readiness or Transition? Perspectives on school entry’]. In L. Mata (Ed). Transição do Jardim de Infância para o 1.º ciclo [Transition from kindergarten to primary school] (pp.1-12). Edições Ispa.

Pacheco, P., & Mata, L. (2022). Family Literacy: Perspectives and Challenges for the Preschool-Family Relation. In Almeida, A. P. & Esteves, S. (Eds), Modern Reading Practices and Collaboration Between Schools, Family, and Community (pp. 174-201). IGI Global. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-9750-7.ch008

Mata, L., Pacheco, P., Brito, A. T., Pereira, M., & Cabral, S. (2022). Envolvimento das famílias no processo educativo – perspetiva de futuros profissionais [Involving families in the educational process – The perspective of future professionals]. Revista Portuguesa de Educação, 35(2). http://doi.org/10.21814/rpe.24634

Mata, L., Monteiro., Peixoto, F., Santos, N., Sanches, C., & Gomes, M. (2021). Emotional profiles towards math among elementary school children – A two-year longitudinal research. European Journal of Psychology of Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-020-00527-9

Current PhD students

Ana Rita Ligeiro Fernandes
(Bolsa FCT-SFRH/BD/148283/2019). PhD in Psychology, Specialization in Educational Psychology, ISPA – Instituto Universitário.

Sónia Cabral
(Bolsa FCT, 2020.06737.BD). PhD in Educational Sciences, ISPA-Instituto Universitário/Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

External collaborations

Patrícia Pacheco (ISEC, Lisboa, Portugal) Isaura Pedro (Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal, Escola Superior de Educação, Portugal) Isabel Lopes da Silva (Ministério da Educação) Liliana Marques (DGE, Ministério da Educação, Portugal) Carla Fernandes (DGE, Ministério da Educação) Natalie Nobrega Santos (Universidade da Madeira, Portugal)

Alumni

Carla Fernandes (DGE, Ministério da Educação)