Essay

Considerations on social responsibility in continuing professional education for local development

0000-0002-3937-6561Adonis Guibo Silva^{1  *} 

¹Universidad de Guantánamo. Cuba

ABSTRACT

This essay aims to promote social responsibility in the continuous training of professionals for local development, as a contribution of education to the integral formation of current and future generations, as well as in the educational work developed by practicing teachers and students of pedagogical careers, since they are responsible for contributing to the design of the social model based on the ethical principles of the socialist society for local development and the country. Theoretical and empirical research methods were used, as analytical-synthetic in the systematization of the main foundations that support this work.

Key words: Social responsibility; University social responsibility; Continuing education; Local development

Introduction

The human being as a social being by necessity must relate to others and for this he must comply with a series of rules of behavior, depending on the place and time in which he is; these obligations that each individual must fulfill with others, are called social responsibilities.

Individuals have maintained a responsibility for their society since ancient times, which has been changing in its evolution throughout history in the different social economic formations.

At present, the non-school education that begins in the family, as the basic cell of society, plays a primordial role in life, while, the school education that develops in educational institutions, teachers play an essential role in the social responsibility of students in the training process, related to education in ethical, human, moral values; standards of conduct; discipline; respect for others; among others.

With the above, it is intended to show a series of arguments and reflections about social responsibility from the educational teaching field in the continuing education of the professional for local development that favors a better development of social demands, as a response to the social responsibility of the university. Thus I reveal my point of view to promote social responsibility from the educational teaching work of professors.

The motivation that drives me is that today's society demands more and more, because it needs greater efficiency of the educational teaching work by teachers together with the family in the formation and development of individual and collective social responsibility in children, adolescents and young people, both inside and outside the educational institutions, in the case at hand, the social responsibility of the university and its commitment to local development.

Development

In a general sense, we deal with two of the many aspects of social responsibility in relation to the training process, as a response to the social responsibility and commitment of the educational institution to society, which acts as a methodological tool in the continuous training of current and future generations of professionals for local development.

A first aspect is the concept of social responsibility , raised by several authors, such as: ^{Perez and Merino (2014}) the Wikipedia encyclopedia, in which they agree that:

• Refers to the obligation or burden that a member of society has towards other members or the group as a whole. For, social responsibility is individual and collective, the impact of the actions of an individual or a group has consequences, whether positive or negative, and that the subject or group must take responsibility for them. Therefore, it is closely related to the education in human values that teachers must train and develop in their educational work together with the role that families, labor entities and society in general, committed to local development, must play.

• It is not linked to legislation; instead, it is associated with ethical and moral issues that do not necessarily constitute a crime. Therefore, in the training process developed by educational institutions, in this case universities, moral ethical values associated with behavior, standards of conduct, human values, ethics of the profession that are formed and reinforced in the university-business link, from the initial and continuous training of the professional for local development.

• It is the ethical or ideological theory that an entity or individual has a responsibility towards society. Therefore, it responds to the social responsibility of the educational institution, in which the university, as the main training entity of current and future generations of professionals, has the commitment to make them useful in their social context for the individual and common good, to have responsibility for their society, which implies their contribution to local and national development.

On the other hand, there are different perceptions of establishing social responsibility mechanisms, which constitute new proposals about the institutional implications of the concept in which we agree with ^{Vélez-Romer & Cano-Lara (2016}), among which are those referring to:

Corporate social responsibility. It is linked to the environmental or social aspects that make up a company.

Corporate social responsibility. It is given in the ethical, transparent and legal management by companies or organizations in order to reduce the negative impacts on the environment and society.

Environmental social responsibility. It refers to the different programs or plans adopted by the company to preserve or safeguard nature as a whole and future generations.

University social responsibility.

Therefore, a second aspect to be addressed is university social responsibility , since the university not only aims to train excellent and recognized professionals, but also individuals committed to local and national development.

In university teaching careers, university social responsibility plays a fundamental role of double social commitment:

First, in the formation of excellent and recognized education professionals, both cognitively and altitudinally, integrally.

Second, committed in their professional performance for the development of the country and the locality, as a trainer of current and future generations, either during the pre-professional practice in their initial training, as well as in their continuing education in their working life.

Hence, the formative process that is developed, both in the university and in other educational institutions at other educational levels, responds to social demands, to education in human and ethical values, closely linked to social responsibility, both individually and collectively.

That is why, university teachers, as well as those in training and those who are in the exercise of the profession (continuous training) have the obligation to know, deepen on social responsibility and apply it inside and outside the educational institution, as part of the social commitment to local and national development. It is the same commitment to social responsibility of other professionals in non-pedagogical university careers in their work performance.

There are several ways to develop social responsibility from the initial training process to the continuing education of the professional for local development, such as:

• As teachers, we must keep in mind within the first activities of the classes, the preparation of the students to deal with the teaching content with a social sense for life, which depends largely on the creativity and initiative of the teachers, according to the characteristics of the students for which they can use: videos, images, music or reflective situations linked to the experiences of the students in their object of profession and the community where they live, as strategies. With this, the senses are stimulated and learning takes place in an integral way.

• Use problems of the students' life related to the profession, present professional problems that excite them and make them see it interesting in the formative process related to the teaching content and the social context of the students' life, bearing in mind their characteristics and performance, making it interesting for them, because they understand what the learning is for, it is meaningful to them and at the same time they are motivated to continue learning.

In this case, the treatment of environmental problems is a transversal axis in the training process that requires treatment in the educational teaching process, as part of environmental social responsibility.

Introduce incongruities, use contradiction, novelty, surprise. Teachers must take advantage of the potential of the teaching content and its link with the social context, keeping in mind the characteristics of the students and the means or resources available to present them with contradictions between what they have learned and what they are going to learn, between what is known and what is unknown, so that a psychic situation of significant cognitive conflict can be created in them, provoking emotions, motivation and concern for the search of possible solutions.

The contradictions used should be neither above nor below the level of knowledge and professional skills of the students, so that with the knowledge they possess and others they acquire in the process itself, they can perform the work of searching for information, analysis, reasoning and giving solutions, achieving the desired success so that they continue to be motivated to continue learning.

Therefore, university graduates from different careers, whether pedagogical or non-pedagogical, with the social responsibility obtained in their initial training, are able to demonstrate it in their work performance during their continuous training in the quality and solutions to professional problems they face, both in the provision of services and in the production of material goods, thus making a significant contribution to local and national development.

Conclusions

The analyses that have been presented on fundamental elements of the concept of social responsibility, raised by several authors and the university social responsibility, oriented not only to form excellent and recognized professionals, but also individuals committed to the development of the country and the community to improve the formative process, in function of the social task of the university in its links with the labor entities in the initial and continuous formation of the professional.

The reflections made can be considered by teachers in the search for methodological strategies, mode of action in social responsibility to influence the fulfillment of social demands, from the social context and its link with the training process.

Referencias bibliográficas

Pérez, J. y Merino M. (2014). Responsabilidad social. En Significados.com. https://www.significados.com/responsabilidad-social/

Vélez-Romer, X. A., & Cano-Lara, E. D. (2016). Los diferentes tipos de responsabilidad social y sus implicaciones éticas. Ciencias sociales y políticas, 2(Número Especial), 117-126. 5802930.pdf.

Received: August 18, 2023; Revised: October 24, 2023; Accepted: January 10, 2024

^*Autor para la correspondencia: [e-mail], [e-mail]