Original article

The professional development of the Bachelor in Education. Labor Education Career. A strategy for its improvement

0000-0001-6434-8389Juan Jesús Zamora Vega^{1  *}  , 0000-0001-9905-7351Lourdes Reyes Carrión¹ 

¹ Universidad de Oriente. Cuba

ABSTRACT

This article presents the strategy for the professional development of the Bachelor in Education. Labor Education Career. It was based on a theoretical study of the context of professional development. The objective was to offer a strategy, which allows making decisions for the benefit of the quality of the professional development of the teacher of Labor Education. The research was based on the definition of (Ortega Salazar, 2011) on continuous training and the inquiry model. Its evaluation was carried out with the development of the method of opinion workshops and collective construction, which made it possible to judge its relevance.

Key words: Continuing education; Professional development; Preparation for employment; Graduate education; Strategy

Introduction

The result of the development of higher education, the present reality of the country and the global environment, demand qualitative changes in the design of current curricula, improving the training model of broad profile oriented to achieve greater relevance to the needs and socioeconomic demands of the country, based on strengthening lifelong education and comprehensive training of students, through a training process that prioritizes learning and also the formation of skills for knowledge management, based on strengthening lifelong education and continuing education of professionals.

Continuing education has been the subject of study by different national and international researchers. Among the national ones we can cite (^{Remón Toledo, 2003}); (^{Alonso Hechavarría, 2004}) and among the international ones (^{Ortega Salazar, 2011}); (^{Valle Salgado 2014}); (^{Valles Ornelas, Viramontes Anaya and Campos Arroyo, 2015}). Among them there is coincidence in terms of giving continuity to the training of professionals from postgraduate and on-the-job training to perfect the initial knowledge of the profession of educator.

For the consistent application of the system of professional improvement of the Bachelor's Degree in Education. Career Labor Education, after completing the stage of undergraduate training in careers of broad profile, it corresponds to continue with the preparation for employment and postgraduate education.

Preparation for employment is designed to be carried out in labor entities with the purpose of developing in the recent graduate the specific professional modes of action related to his or her job. At this stage, the major responsibility falls on the employer organizations.

Postgraduate education is designed to ensure the continuous training and systematic updating of graduates in Education. Career Labor Education, in order to achieve the improvement of the performance of their professional and academic activities, the development of high professional competencies and advanced capacities for research and innovation, as well as the enrichment of their cultural heritage.

All this should be achieved through participation in specialization, reorientation, updating, training and permanent improvement activities (courses, diploma courses, postgraduate specialties, master's and doctoral programs). At this stage the responsibility is shared between the universities and the employer organizations.

From the relationship between the university and the employer organizations, it can be achieved that the graduate understands the most general and frequent problems inherent to the object of work of the teacher of Labor Education through the information and collaboration of expert professionals, directors of the provincial and municipal institutions and of the educational institution and the tutors of the teaching units.

1. For this reason, the design of the Strategy for the professional development of the Bachelor's Degree in Education. The insufficient articulation between the undergraduate and graduate programs to guarantee the continuing education of professionals.

2. The length of the careers delays the training cycle, decreasing the possibility of offering a faster response to labor demand.

3. The link between the degree programs and employer organizations has not yet reached the desired levels, which limits the impact of the university in the territory and the attention to the continuous training of students in the labor practice.

Overcoming these difficulties will make possible the improvement of the broad profile training model based on the mastery of the basic and specific basic aspects of Labor Education teacher training.

Development

Continuing education has been studied and defined as the process that improves knowledge regarding the performance, strategies and attitudes of those who work in schools. For its part, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), (as cited in ^{Alonso Hechavarría, 2004}), defines it as "a process aimed at reviewing and renewing previously acquired knowledge, attitudes and skills (...)" (p. 86).

Similarly ^{Ortega Salazar (2011}) explains it as:

that learning that occurs along a continuum that begins with initial training, is refined in the first stage of insertion into active service, and is expanded and developed throughout working life (p. 6).

Continuous training assumes training as a never-ending path, which is followed from the initial training and as long as the profession is practiced; that is, throughout the professional life in which it is often necessary to unlearn old, outdated forms in order to learn new knowledge. Soussan points out, (as cited in ^{Valle Salgado, 2014}), when referring to continuous teacher training that: "Initial and continuous training are different stages of the same training system that must integrate research and didactic, pedagogical and technological knowledge" (p.38).

When conceptualizing professional improvement, Añorga (as cited in ^{Valle Salgado, 2014}) considers it as "a process of updating knowledge and also as a way of overcoming insufficiencies in initial training or completing knowledge and skills not previously acquired and necessary for job performance" (p.38).

When analyzing these concepts, it is possible to distinguish that there is consensus that the purpose of continuous training is the continuous improvement of the knowledge acquired in initial training, from the teacher's work performance; but considering the specific purposes of the proposed strategy, the definition of (^{Ortega Salazar, 2011}) is considered relevant because it emphasizes the need to serve teachers in their first stage of professional performance.

Several approaches or models on continuous teacher training are reported in the literature. Authors Castillo and Cabrerizo (as cited in ^{Valle Salgado, 2014}) present the traditional, personalist, behaviorist and inquiry-oriented paradigms or approaches as the most developed in recent years:

The traditional approach is a model based on learning by observation, in which practice is the main training element through the imitation of a tutor or teacher. This type of training does not encourage creativity and teacher initiative, as it promotes the maintenance of existing didactic practices.

The personalist approach is based on phenomenological epistemology and perceptive psychology. This approach assumes that teachers develop their teaching skills to the extent that they discover conditions to understand themselves and develop attitudes that allow them to face situations in their performance. This approach is criticized because it focuses on teacher training only in the personal aspect.

The behaviorist approach, also called technological, is of positivist origin. It assumes teaching as actions or behaviors, observable and measurable in their results. The teacher is conceived as a passive receiver of knowledge. This approach is criticized for understanding learning as a simple modification of observable behavior through induced training, which does not allow understanding new situations.

The inquiry approach is currently the most accepted approach because it defends the importance of reflection and research in the educational space; teachers are conceived as professionals who are reflective about their own practice, critical, attentive to the analysis of the social context.

Consistent with the inquiry approach, the continuing education of the graduate of the Labor Education career should involve different learning processes, from analysis and reflection on daily educational practice, to meaningful access and learning of new contents and skills.

In this sense, preparation for employment and graduate education should be based on the interactive relationship with personal factors, taking into account the cultural context of the teacher and the institutional dynamics, contemplating diversified training strategies according to the contents, contexts and time of the improvement processes, favoring the development of professional modes of action.

The category of performance mode has been studied by many educational researchers. In the definitions consulted, given by (^{Fuentes González, 2000}); (^{Miranda and Páez, 2001}); (^{Álvarez de Zayas, 2004}); (^{Chirino Ramos, 2005}), it is observed that these authors define it with different conceptual elements, which can be understood as characteristics of the mode of professional performance, although underlying in all is the understanding of the mode of performance as a generalization of the methods of the profession and its concretion in a system of actions. There is unanimity of criteria that the mode of action is associated with the way in which the professional exercises his action on the object of work, expressed in the form of professional methods or functions.

The mode of action of the Labor Education teacher is understood to be the education of adolescents, through the teaching-learning process of the referred subject, aimed at guaranteeing labor training as a quality of the adolescent's personality and the coordination of the educational influences of the school community, the family and the community for the achievement of the same.

1. The analysis made of the different definitions and the model of the professional of the Bachelor of Education. Career Labor Education allowed to highlight as essential elements in their mode of action the development of skills that reveal:

2. The mastery of the professional functions of the teacher for the direction of the school pedagogical process, in a general way, in the educational institutions.

3. The appropriation of the content and methodology for the communication and development of labor training through the Constructive Process of Articles in the subject Labor Education.

4. The capacity for the solution of professional pedagogical problems associated with the education of the personality and with a certain level of skills, abilities, norms and values that favor the technological, economic and environmental culture that prepares adolescents for life.

5. The pedagogical professional identity.

In this sense, any proposal for continuing education that involves preparation for employment and postgraduate training requires assessing the opinion of practicing teachers in order to know the strengths and limitations of initial training and thus be able to meet their real needs for on-the-job training.

The Strategy for the professional improvement of the Bachelor's Degree in Education. Labor Education Career is based on the dialectical-materialist conception, which presupposes the scientific possibility of the preparation of teachers. It considers as a psychological reference the historical-cultural approach which considers teaching and education as a universal and necessary form of the process of human psychic development and it is through them, fundamentally, that man appropriates the culture, the historical-cultural experience of humanity. This theory makes the educator aware of the great possibilities of man's educability, in accordance with the demands of the society in which he lives and to which he has to contribute to develop.

The Strategy for the professional improvement of the Bachelor in Education. Labor Education Career has as general objective to raise the quality of the continuous training process of this professional, facilitating the contextualization of knowledge and skills to conduct learning in the subject Labor Education. For its elaboration, the inquiry approach was taken into account, to the extent that it favors the critical analysis of the teaching work, contextualized to the reality of the teaching-learning process of the Labor Education subject.

Its specific objectives are:

1. To develop in the recent graduate the specific professional modes of action related to the job position where he/she will perform his/her professional work.

2. To favor the continuous training of the Graduates in Education. Career Labor Education, in order to achieve the improvement of the performance of their professional activities and the development of professional competencies and advanced capacities for research, innovation and enrichment of their cultural heritage.

The proposed strategy is characterized by a systemic character as it shows a close relationship between the stages and objectives that compose it. It takes into account, the determination of the real state of the main material, organizational, legal and attitudinal conditions, which makes viable the postgraduate training of the Bachelor in Education. Labor Education, for its understanding and socialization in correspondence with the proposed objectives. The above occurs through a guiding and developmental process evidenced in the relationship that should exist between the university and the employer organizations.

The fundamental contents of this strategy are: attention to individual differences and treatment of diversity; attention to the family to improve the educational influence on students; how to proceed when faced with a difficult subject of the program taught; educational orientation to students in the political-ideological order; application of productive methods; control of discipline in the educational institution and participation in activities of specialization, reorientation, updating, training and permanent improvement.

The fundamental work method will be the joint elaboration between the graduate and the tutor, as personal components, fundamental for its success. The result to be evaluated is the improvement of the quality of the teaching-learning process of the subject performed by the graduate, at the same time that his/her professional performance is transformed. The strategy is designed on the basis of the specific objectives to be achieved stated above, the stages and their particular objectives, actions, the procedures to be executed for the fulfillment of these actions, the persons responsible as well as the deadlines for the fulfillment and the way in which each action will be evaluated.

The stages of the strategy are: Preparatory Stage, Executive Stage and Evaluation Stage. The preparatory stage is aimed at creating the objective and subjective conditions for the efficient insertion of the graduate of the Labor Education career in the educational institution; the executive stage pursues the development of activities that allow the graduate to overcome deficiencies and/or achieve skills not acquired in the undergraduate training and the evaluation stage will allow assessing to what extent the proposed and developed strategy has been effective, which will be directly related to the pedagogical, didactic and technological skills demonstrated by the graduate in his professional performance mode.

Preparatory stage

Action. 1

Categorize the tutors in the base link, to attend to the individual differences and the treatment of the diversity of the graduates.

Procedures.

1. Coordination with the Ministry of Education (MINED) for the selection of potential tutors.

2. Organization of tutors' documentation.

Responsible: Department and career heads. Methodologist MINED. Date of fulfillment: until December 2019. Form of evaluation: Review of the tutor's file.

1. Execution of the categorization exercises for the tutors in the basic link.

Responsibility: Department and career heads. Categorization Tribunal. Compliance date: February 2020.

Form of evaluation: Categorization class.

Action 2.

To characterize the limitations and potentialities of the graduates, in the assimilation of the pedagogical, didactic and technological knowledge system of the undergraduate training.

Procedures.

1. Conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the graduate, highlighting professional potentialities and difficulties.

2. Hold a meeting with graduates, family and employers for the professional pedagogical delivery of the graduate to MINED, establishing commitments of the interested parties.

Responsibility: Coordinator and Head of career, Methodologist MINED. Date of fulfillment: until July 2020. Form of evaluation: Comprehensive evaluation of the graduate. Meeting with graduates, family and employers.

Executive stage

1st year of training.

Action 1.

To perfect the skills for the planning of a difficult subject of the program he/she teaches, taking into account his/her professional inadequacies and potentialities.

Procedures.

Provide differentiated attention to graduates through work sessions with tutors on the contents corresponding to the stage according to the initial diagnosis (needs and potentials) in terms of:

1. Objectives, skills, content, methods, procedures, and means.

2. Content according to the dosage of the subjects and the planning of the Partial Controls Works.

3. The didactic structure of the class.

4. Revision of the Partial Controls Works.

Action 2.

Evaluation of the appropriate rate of attendance and punctuality to the work center.

Procedures.

Monitoring of attendance and punctuality to the workplace.

Analyze with the graduate's family the causes of the graduate's absences.

Action 3.

Development of skills for educational guidance to students in the political-ideological order.

Procedures.

Participate in the political preparation system oriented by MINED according to the planning of each center.

Action 4.

Attention to the family to improve the educational influence on students.

Procedures.

Participate in the planning and execution of parent schools and social work tasks of the group where he/she teaches.

Action 5.

Improvement of knowledge in terms of the technical skills of the subject.

Procedures.

1. Study the LibreCAD application. This is an application for Computer Aided Design, in 2D, which is introduced in Basic Secondary Education as of the modifications proposed with the III Improvement of the National Education System.

2. Elaboration of methodologies to approach the work with the different materials, operations and tools for the construction of articles.

3. To elaborate teaching materials and means with which to execute the methodologies for the work with the different materials, operations and tools in the construction of articles.

Action 6

Improvement of knowledge in educational research methodology.

Procedures.

Refine and generalize the results of educational research in educational practice.

Responsibility: Tutor and subject group at MINED. Due date: September 2020 to May 2021. Form of evaluation: Participation in the work sessions.

Evaluation stage

2nd year of training.

Action 1.

Evaluation of the appropriation of the specific professional modes of action related to the work position where he/she performs his/her professional work.

Procedures.

To impart instructive, demonstrative and open methodological class related to the methodological requirements for a developmental class, according to the teaching level.

Responsibility: Tutor, graduate and MINED methodologist. Due date: September 2020 to May 2021. Form of evaluation: Participation in the work sessions.

Action 2

Improvement of professional skills for the development of research and the enrichment of its cultural heritage.

Procedures.

Enrollment and approval of the postgraduate course for teachers of Labor Education.

Responsibility: Tutor, graduate and MINED methodologist. Due date: September 2021 to May 2022. Form of evaluation: Participation in work sessions.

Evaluation of the Strategy for the professional improvement of the Bachelor's Degree in Education. Labor Education Career.

Before starting its application, an evaluation was carried out through the method of critical opinion workshops and collective construction with professors of higher education, educational institutions and MINED officials. The evaluation took into consideration the criteria of 15 professionals, 100% of whom are graduates, 73.3% have a Master's degree and 20% have a PhD. In addition, 60% of them have had work experience in the subject of Labor Education. They were chosen intentionally in order to be representative of the training institutions. In order to know their opinions, the following indicators were taken into account:

1. Scientific level and actuality of the Strategy for the professional improvement of the Bachelor's Degree in Education. Labor Education Career.

2. Contribution of the Strategy for the professional improvement of the Bachelor's Degree in Education. Labor Education Career, to the improvement of the continuous training from the professional performance in the Labor Education subject.

3. Level of practical applicability of the Strategy for the professional improvement of the Bachelor of Arts in Education. Labor Education Career.

For the processing of this information, a guide for the evaluators' criteria was applied, which contextualizes a data collection instrument called "Likert-type scaling" (^{Hernández Sampieri, Fernández Collado and Baptista Lucio, 1998}, p. 256). The results of this consultation leave the way open for its application in practice and for making the necessary modifications taking into account the recommendations offered.

1. In the guide the indicators can be evaluated as: Very adequate (5) points; Fairly adequate (4) points; Adequate (3) points; Not very adequate (2) points; Inadequate: (1) point and the average obtained with each subject is graded according to the number of indicators using the formula PT/NT (where PT is the total score and NT is the number of indicators), being possible to obtain in this case a minimum score of 3 points or a maximum score of 5 for each subject. The total points obtained by each subject are then averaged.

Conclusions

The bibliographic review evidenced an epistemological gap regarding the existence of strategies for the improvement of Labor Education professionals, which should be based on preparation for employment, to develop in the recent graduate the specific professional modes of action related to his job position and postgraduate education, to ensure the systematic updating of Graduates in Education. Career Labor Education, in order to achieve the improvement of the performance of their professional activities.

The previous evaluation of the proposed strategy, through the criteria of professors of higher education, educational institutions, directors and MINED officials, gave as a result that the strategy is quite adequate, for its application in the continuous training of professionals in Labor Education.

This result was corroborated with the contextualized application of a data collection instrument called Likert-type scaling, and the following recommendations were obtained:

Incorporate graduates and their tutors to the Labor Education career project.

To extend the attention to the graduates of Curriculum D.

Referencias bibliográficas

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Received: December 15, 2022; Accepted: April 08, 2023

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