Original article

Educational trends that support the university-families relationship in the training of professionals in Pedagogy-Psychology

0000-0002-3097-5576Yuniela Comendador González^{1  *} 

¹Universidad de Las Tunas. Cuba

ABSTRACT

The work emphasizes the educational tendencies that sustain the university-families relationship in the formation of professionals in Pedagogy-Psychology. Theoretical level methods were used to collect and process information on the real state of the object to be investigated. The results revealed the insufficient instrumentation in the regulations of the professional training process in Pedagogy-Psychology and insufficient practical activities in the training process to achieve the university-families relationship. It is determined that there is a lack of use of the potentialities that the university-families relationship can offer to the professional training process, which constitutes a theoretical-methodological foundation.

Key words: Family; Formation; University-families relationship; University

Introduction

The transformations that have occurred since the 1990s in Cuba impose new challenges for the training process of professionals in Higher Education, and one of the missions of this Ministry is to raise the quality of the training of professionals. In order to contribute to the fulfillment of this social need, ^{Díaz-Canel (2010}) expressed:

In order to give continuity to the development of this system of education in Cuba, two priorities of university work have been identified that form an organic whole: strengthening the educational work of the university and ensuring the quality of the substantive processes (p. 8).

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approved by the United Nations General Assembly (UN) refer to the need to ensure inclusive, equitable and quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. In this sense, higher education institutions have a high responsibility to apply new approaches to university management that are more relevant, committed to the development of society and oriented to meet social needs.

It constitutes a normative support the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba (2019) which specifies in Article 73:

Education is a right of all people and a responsibility of the State, which guarantees free, affordable and quality education services for comprehensive training, from early childhood to postgraduate university education. Society and families are responsible for education (p. 6).

The Social Policy of the Guidelines of the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (2021) in Article 91 refers to: "(...) preserving and raising the quality indexes achieved in the teaching-educational process and in the formation of values in children, adolescents and young people, based on a better integration with the family" (p. 69).

In correspondence with the above, the Family Code of the Republic of Cuba (2022) refers in its article two:

The State recognizes families as the fundamental cell of society, protects them and contributes to their integration, welfare, social, cultural, educational and economic development, to the performance of their responsibilities and creates conditions that guarantee the fulfillment of their functions as an institution and social group. (p. 13).

The student of the Pedagogy-Psychology career in the process of professional formation, in spite of the inherent characteristics of the youth stage where new configurations such as the conception of the world and the development of the capacity of self-determination are highlighted, needs the orientation of the families as part of the education from, during and for life in interrelation with the university, responsible then for his formation as a professional. As a result of this relationship, it is possible to develop at the same time their professional functions in this area in order to achieve an inclusive and quality pedagogy.

In initial training, there is a need to raise the quality of education professionals, for the performance of their basic tasks and professional functions in educational contexts, in the interaction with learners and educational agents, in order to promote concrete transformations of the educational reality. In this sense, the Model of the Professional of the Pedagogy-Psychology career (2016) conceives that this specialist must: "guide individual and collective subjects in terms of their training and development in the contexts where he/she deploys his/her work of educational guidance to students, families and communities" (^{Ministry of Higher Education (MES), 2016}, p. 5).

The access of young people to Higher Education is a bet on the development of their life projects. Families, during youth, have a fundamental mission in the search for the professional career, in this context the role of the university transcends communication or knowledge production, it places as a central axis the training of professionals, in order to contribute to the integral formation of a subject that is inserted into society to fulfill its assignment.

As part of the results of the scientific project Psychopedagogical guidance and counseling in educational, labor, social and clinical contexts for Cuban socio-educational development, observation, exchanges with professionals in training and teachers, as well as professional experience in the department, the following manifestations are revealed in the professionals in training of the Pedagogy-Psychology career:

Difficulties in the university's educational process for working with families.

Insufficient responsibility of the families in the formative process of the professionals in training.

Difficulties in the interaction established between families and the university.

From what has been analyzed, it is evidenced as a practical contradiction between the social aspiration, embodied in the pillar of university work, expressed in the strengthening of the educational work of the university, from the university-families relationship and the limited work to integrate the educational influences of both agencies in the training of professionals in Pedagogy-Psychology.

Regarding the subject of the university-families relationship, ^{Herrera (2012}) addresses the educational and family orientation, its implication in the formation of the university professional in Cuba; ^{Garrido (2014}) emphasizes the family dynamics of university students; Guevara (2014) suggests the integration of the educational influences of the university and the family in the formation of the Higher Education professional; ^{Bartutis (2015}) exposes the role of the family in the strengthening of values in the Medical University of Camagüey; ^{Villafrade and Franco (2016}) deepen the family as a social support network in university students entering first semester, ^{Sánchez and Callejas (2020}) inquire about family and university: Family participation in the university educational context, ^{Solernou (2022}) focuses on looking differently at the university-family bond.

As a result of the previous research, different conceptions are provided regarding the relationship between the university and families, they refer to their interrelation to achieve an adequate training of the professional, they grant a key role to both families and teachers; however, this relationship is not seen by the authors as an integration of influences that must work as a unit of demands, limiting themselves to the foundation of the ways to conduct this relationship. Frequently, the approaches remain in a general theoretical conception due to the lack of methodological proposals that deepen in how to contribute to professional training and the educational role that corresponds to families.

The objective of this research is to argue the educational tendencies that sustain the university-families relationship in the formation of professionals in Pedagogy-Psychology. The following scientific methods were used: historical-logical and theoretical systematization, which allowed the analysis of the training process of professionals in Pedagogy-Psychology and the determination of the essential antecedents of the university-families relationship and thus the objective logic of the development of this process.

Development

The background of the training of education professionals is found in the enrichment of the Cuban pedagogical heritage that is nourished by the conceptions of the vanguard educators from the colonial period to the present, among whom are recognized the most outstanding pedagogues of the 19th century: ^{Varona (1888}), ^{De la Luz (1952}), ^{Martí (1961}) and ^{Castro (1981}, 2001) who summarize the most radical pedagogical thinking of their time around the vision of education, whose core is the linking of school with life.

After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, actions began to be taken to reverse the situation that existed in the country, and fundamental laws were enacted in response to the change, among them the National Congress of Education and Culture (1971), which foresaw the beginning of a process of improvement of the National Education System, the Family Code (1975), which was a milestone in the promotion of ethical principles, based on new moral and social values for Cuban families and strengthened the actions of the State in pursuit of effective equality among its members through the development of public policies. Cuban society evolved and the characteristics of families changed substantially in the vision from the rights to found and live in a family, as well as in the transformations within the home.

In 1977 the opening of the Bachelor's Degree in Education, Pedagogy-Psychology began, a process that has caused transformations in the conception of the profile of the professional, the curricular design and, consequently, in the training process. In the 1978-1979 school year, this degree began in the modality of Course for Workers in the Higher Pedagogical Institutes "Enrique José Varona", "Félix Varela Morales", "Frank País García" and "José de la Luz y Caballero". The reduction in the social demand for these professionals and their almost exclusive use in teaching led to the decision to prepare other specialists in Pedagogy-Psychology from graduates of other teaching careers. The main objective in this period was to prepare teachers for teacher training institutions and teacher training, the training curriculum addressed contents related to family, prevention and guidance. (^{Ortiz, Doce and Mendoza, 2019}).

The educational work did not take into account the participation of families in the training of professionals, as it was fundamentally of the university context in the objectives that were inherent to it, where families did not assume responsibility entirely in the professionals in training in their academic and formative results in general, which was due to the independence and autonomy as characteristics of the youth stage, which characterized the professionals in training. In addition, the families that were far from the university, for example, the central or eastern region, only attended the institution from time to time, where they had some conversations with professors of the professionals in training, due to the alienation of mobile devices and technological resources that today constitute a potentiality. (Ochoa, 2022).

On the aforementioned considerations, based on the criterion of the improvement of the university-families relationship in the training process of the professional of the Pedagogy-Psychology career, the characterization is made since 2008 with the reopening of the career until today until 2022, with the approval of the Family Code, which has its expression in the legal and social transformations. For the realization of the historical study, the following aspects are taken into account:

• Instrumentation of the legal and normative documents that support the university-families relationship in the training process of professionals in Pedagogy-Psychology.

• Valuation of the university-families relationship in the practical work of the pedagogical group.

• Impact of the university-families relationship in the formation of professionals in Pedagogy-Psychology.

The following stages are declared:

• First stage (2008-2016): emergence of the university-families relationship, determined by the reopening of the Pedagogy-Psychology career throughout the country in its face-to-face modality for students graduated from high school with a new Modified Study Plan C.

• Second stage (2016-2022): decrease of the university-families relationship, determined by the emergence of the E study plan that brings with it the improvement of the Pedagogy-Psychology career study plan and the approval of the guidelines from the VII Congress of the PCC that refers in article 120 the need to improve the educational work in integration with the families of children, adolescents and young people.

First stage (2008-2016): emergence of the university-families relationship.

Various factors intervene in the formation process, such as: family, school, community, political and social organizations, the State and other institutions of society. In this regard, the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba (2002), in force in 2008, recognizes that the family is the fundamental cell of society and attributes to it essential responsibilities and functions in the education and formation of new generations. It also states that both the family and the school have the duty to pay special attention to the integral formation of children and youth.

In relation to the above, the Cuban state pays special attention to the family, in order to strengthen its role in the education of children, together with the school and other social institutions, as stated in the Social Policy of the Guidelines of the Fifth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (2011), which states that progress must continue to be made in raising the quality and rigor of the teaching-educational process, enhancing the role of the family in the education of children and young people.

Accordingly, the Family Code of the Republic of Cuba (1975) states that the family is the fundamental cell of society contributes to its development and fulfills important functions in the formation of new generations. However, the adaptation and instrumentation in the basic documents that regulate the formation of the professional in Pedagogy-Psychology of what was stated in the legal documents was insufficient to determine the university-families relationship, despite the fact that the educational strategy demanded family participation in the formative process of this professional.

The improvement of the scientific-methodological work was required in the preparation of the career teachers and main teachers of the academic year to achieve the university-families relationship, for which work sessions and preparations of the family education schools were planned with topics inherent to how to solve the fundamental problems in the youth stage.

The educational work is based on the development of values such as: dignity, justice, honesty, solidarity, honesty, industriousness, patriotism, anti-imperialism, humanism. The formation of these values, according to ^{Rodriguez (2005}) is the axis around which all university life should revolve, both curricular and extracurricular, starting with the personal example of the professors and the university environment that is created.

According to interviews, strengthening the role of the family in the education of children, as well as raising the quality of education at different educational levels, was recognized as a necessity and the University was not far from such purposes. During this period, in the Universities of Pedagogical Sciences, meetings were held for parents and family education schools, where the characteristics of the development stage were taken into account, which in addition to recognizing the autonomy and need for independence, highlighted the role of the family responsible for the formation of the professional. (Conde, 2021).

In the educational work, the teachers became counselors from their role related to the responsibility in the teaching process in correspondence with the monitoring and evaluation to enhance the development of the professionals in training from the needs that they presented, from this perspective the participation of the family was taken into account promoting systematic actions to influence the academic preparation and education (Ramirez, 2022). (Ramirez, 2022).

The participation of the family as part of the educational work was taken into account to achieve a professional training, where they assumed the responsibility of the whole in the professionals in training in their academic and formative results in general, not only parents, but partners and other guardians of the professionals in training.(Santiesteban, 2022)

The relationship between the university and the families was an essential part of the training process of the professionals. This relationship had the characteristic of being intentional by the pedagogical collectives where communication, cooperation and exchange prevailed among all the participants in order to achieve excellent results in the academic and professional field of the students. (L. Ortiz, personal communication, 2022)

In the structure of the educational strategies of each academic year from the three components: academic, labor-research and extension, operate in close functional and integral relationship, so that the family participates in the formation of their children, which responded to the process of continuous improvement of education to give a more effective response to the demands and demands imposed by the times and society, with a higher quality in training. (M. A. Mulet, personal communication, 2022).

At this stage the impact of the university-family relationship in the training of professionals in Pedagogy-Psychology was reflected in the effectiveness of the educational strategy, which incorporates the educational task and took into account actions that contributed to the training of professionals, such as: the participation in the movement of amateur artists, in activities of national commemoration and cultural and political events, the incorporation to sports teams, in this direction, the educational work carried out in the pedagogical collectives enhanced the participation of professionals in training in an active way in their formative process in a conscious and transformative way. (L. Mosqueda, personal communication, 2022).

They are characteristics of the stage:

In the instrumentation of the legal documents and regulations that support the university-families relationship in the training process of the professional in Pedagogy-Psychology: the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, the Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Family Code in force expressed the role of the families in the integral formation of the new generations, however, the instrumentation in the regulations of the professional training process in Pedagogy-Psychology was insufficient, but several practical activities were carried out.

The valuation of the university-families relationship from the practical work carried out by the pedagogical collective of the professionals in formation of the Pedagogy-Psychology career, stands out for the planning and development of the educational strategies of the career and academic years, the realization of meetings and parents' schools and the systematic attention to the responsibility in the professional formation, where the role of the families was pondered.

The impact of the university-families relationship in the training of professionals in Pedagogy-Psychology was directed to the influence of families for the conscious and protagonist participation in all teaching, research and extension activities.

Second stage (2016-2022): decrease in the university-families relationship.

This stage is characterized by an advance in legal and normative documents about the role of families in the integral formation of children, adolescents and young people, revealed by the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba (2019) which recognizes education is a right of all people and responsibility of the State, which guarantees free, affordable and quality education services for integral formation, from early childhood to postgraduate university education. Society and families are responsible for education.

Within the strategies and priorities outlined by the Communist Party of Cuba, families play an important role in the formation of new generations as well as the accompaniment of other institutions to achieve its objective, this is demonstrated in the Social Policy of the Guidelines of the 6th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (2016) recognizes that work must continue in the elevation and rigor of the teaching-educational process and in the improvement of the role of families in the education of children, adolescents and young people.

In 2016, educational changes occurred from the historical reality faced by the Ministry of Higher Education in the unification of several universities, except for the Enrique José Varona University of Pedagogical Sciences and the remaining universities in Havana, however, the objective was the same: to achieve the training of professionals.

From the integration of the universities, with changes in the management structures of the organizations and administrative structures in general, despite the educational strategies of careers and years that somehow recognized the complex nature of Higher Education with new ways of entry, of students coming from various social sectors, as well as different types of families, there were difficulties in the systematicity of what was achieved in the previous stage in relation to the relationship of the university and families in the training of professionals, as less and less meetings and parent schools were planned until they disappeared.

The families attended the university institution if there was a serious disciplinary situation that required their presence in analysis or when discussing the Diploma Project at the end of the study, the most important moment for everyone as a result of the formative process. It was recognized that despite the fact that, in regulations and official documents, as well as important researches that constituted the legal support, the need to achieve the university-families relationship in the training of professionals was recognized, in the educational practice the same activities were not carried out as in courses of previous stages and the participation of families in the process of professional training was limited, thus affecting the implementation of the legal requirements in this sense.

The VIII Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (2021) reaffirms the responsibility of families as the fundamental cell of society for the full welfare and support of its members, as well as the integral formative role of the new generations. It is recognized that social work and preventive-educational work should be comprehensively addressed from the community with all the actors involved, which enhances the primordial role of families up to higher levels, in a concerted and coordinated manner. To achieve and raise the quality indexes reached in the teaching-educational process and in the formation of values in children, adolescents and young people, starting from an integration with the families.

Accordingly, the Family Code of the Republic of Cuba (2022) states that the State recognizes families as the fundamental cell of society, protects them and contributes to their integration, well-being, social, cultural, educational and economic development, to the performance of their responsibilities and creates conditions that guarantee the fulfillment of their functions as an educational agency and social group.

In spite of the new requirements of the legal documents aimed at perfecting the role of families in society, in addition to the debates and various sessions in all universities and especially in the Pedagogy-Psychology career due to the characteristics of a broad profile, of constant link with the socio-educational spaces and professional functions, the instrumentation of what is expressed in the educational task in the process of professional training is still insufficient: family education schools are limited in order to rescue the educational work of the families in the youth stage, the educational orientation carried out by the pedagogical collective is insufficient, as well as the realization of activities that encourage the university-families relationship.

The changes that have developed in professionals in training and their families not only respond to their time, but are also subject to social, cultural and economic needs. Understanding and guiding them from the university is fundamental to develop common actions that allow improving and strengthening their functions in order to achieve professional training.

At this stage, the impact of the university-families relationship in the training of professionals in Pedagogy-Psychology is affected by the insufficient educational influence to achieve the comprehensive training of young people in this career, focusing more on the theoretical and not on the practical. However, in the social impacts of the activities carried out from the community projects, the relationship with the families is intended from the protagonism of professionals in training and teachers.

These are characteristics of the stage:

In relation to the instrumentation of the legal and normative documents that support the university-families relationship in the training process of the professional, the requirements established in legal documents such as the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba were perfected, the Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the approval of a new Code of Families with different characteristics that expressed the role of families in the integral formation of the new generations, nevertheless, the instrumentation in the regulations of the professional formation process in Pedagogy-Psychology is insufficient and the practical activities in the formative process to achieve the university-families relationship are insufficient.

In the evaluation of the practical work carried out by the pedagogical collective with the families of the professionals in formation of the Pedagogy-Psychology career, in spite of the improvement and development from the theoretical point of view, a regression in the planning and development of the educational strategies of the career and academic years from the integration of the universities stands out, where the recognition of the role of the families in the formation of the professionals is difficult.

The impact of the university-families relationship in the formation of professionals in Pedagogy-Psychology is affected by the insufficient educational influence of the families together with the university in the integral formation achieved in the formative process.

The evaluation of the regularities of each stage allows delimiting the following tendencies about the university-families relationship in the formation of the professional in Pedagogy-Psychology:

• In the instrumentation of the legal and normative documents that support the university-families relationship in the process of training professionals transit from the recognition to the improvement of the requirements established in legal documents such as the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, the Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the approval of a new Code of Families, however, difficulties are noted in the practical instrumentation of the inclusion of this educational agency in relation to the university in the training of the professional.

• The evaluation of the practical work carried out by the pedagogical collective with the families of the professionals in formation of the Pedagogy-Psychology career transits from a propitious educational work to an insufficient educational work that links the university-families in the formation of professionals, which evidences the need to establish the pedagogical foundations of the systematized university-families relationship that make possible its concretion in the educational practice.

• The impact of the university-families relationship in the formation of professionals in Pedagogy-Psychology goes from the achievement of systematic and positive educational influences to insufficient educational influences of the family together with the university in the integral formation achieved in the formative process.

Conclusions

The historical tendency study carried out on the university-family relationship in the training of Pedagogy-Psychology professionals, reveals that in the same measure in which research and improvement of legal and normative documents that support the role of families in the integral training of new generations have increased, it lacks the potentialities that it can offer to the professional training process, which constitutes a theoretical-methodological foundation.

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Received: October 16, 2023; Revised: December 18, 2023; Accepted: March 05, 2024

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