Original article

The professional improvement of teachers in situations of violence in the educational community

0000-0002-7401-8559Yosniel Estévez Arias^{1  *}  , 0000-0003-3742-0466Miguel Jorge Llivina Lavigne²  , 0000-0002-9396-1817Yoanka Rodney Rodríguez³ 

¹Universidad de Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca". Cuba.

²Oficina Regional de Cultura para la América Latina y el Caribe. Oficina de la UNESCO. La Habana, Cuba

³Universidad de Ciencias Pedagógicas "Enrique José Varona", La Habana, Cuba

ABSTRACT

The confrontation of situations of violence that are manifested in the educational community, is the way to recognize and consider the school, as the social institution responsible for promoting education and teaching that emphasizes the values of tolerance and peace. The objective of this article is to offer a professional development program for teachers to deal with situations of violence in the educational community. For the development of the research, a study was carried out based on the general method of materialist dialectics, using methods from the theoretical level (analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, systematization and the system approach), from the empirical level (observation and interview), as well as statistical-mathematical (descriptive statistics), which made it possible to propose the improvement program as a response to the needs of teachers to face, from a bio-psycho-social approach, where methods and procedures for the prevention and correction-compensation of the consequences that originate in students, situations of violence in the educational community. It is considered that this result contributes to the fact that the educational communities have in their hands a tool that facilitates the fulfillment of the rights of schoolchildren to education, health and well-being and, in turn, to the fulfillment of the Development Goals. Sustainable established until 2030.

Key words: educational community; professional performance; prevention and correction-compensation; overcoming; violence

Introduction

The Cuban educational revolution dedicates considerable material and human resources to the improvement of educational systems and the professional development of teachers. The Higher Education subsystem is inserted in these purposes and has the mission of directing and controlling, among other processes, postgraduate training, in correspondence with the growing demands emanating from social development.

According to ^{Cruz et al. (2018)}, ^{Perojo et al. (2019)} and others, postgraduate training and, consequently, professional improvement is aimed at promoting the systematic updating of knowledge, developing skills and improving the professional and human performance of teachers (^{Torres et al., 2022}).

The professional improvement of teachers constitutes one of the fundamental links on which every society has to work to guarantee in future generations, not only knowledge, but also the necessary axiological aspect in the face of changes and social demands.

According to ^{Cruz et al. (2018)}, the professional improvement of teachers can be conceived as an "educational process, contextualized, intentional in improving professional performance (...), to respond to the social order that today demands a quality service in Cuba and the world, in the fulfillment of their assistance, teaching, investigative and managerial functions (...)" (p. 4).

It is a process of ongoing training that makes professionals agents of change, with a general comprehensive and scientific-technical culture from the use of concrete actions that lead to research, innovation, knowledge generation and specialized professionalization (^{Bernaza et al., 2020}).

It is a way of contributing to the country's development, independent of political, economic, social and environmental conditions, an "apparent contradiction between the general character of its direction and the individual character, both of participation and of the effect of its results, mediated for the responsibility of the teacher with his efficient professional performance" (^{Díaz and Martínez, 2021, p. 91}).

The assumption of such considerations allows establishing the relationship between improvement and professional performance. Professional performance is considered as one of the results of improvement, which is expressed in the improvement of the modes of action and in the fulfillment of the labor functions of teachers.

The elements addressed are important for this research, its purposes are consistent with improving and updating the knowledge of teachers, so as to improve their professional performance in coping with situations of violence (such as physical violence, gender, sexual, harassment, cyberbullying, physical and emotional neglect, among others), in any of the contexts of the educational community.

Confronting situations of violence in the educational community is the way to jointly recognize and consider the role of teachers, the school, the family, and the community, in promoting "peaceful, just, and inclusive societies", without fear or violence" [(^{United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2017, p. 195}].

In this context, violence is considered as the "social and multifactorial phenomenon that has its origins in the imbalance of power among the members of the educational community, causing damage, both for those who apply it and for those who suffer it. It is considered in turn, preventable".

Understand, in this context, by members of the educational community the entire universe of people who participate in the education and development of girls, boys and adolescents; that is, the members of the family (mother, father, siblings, grandmother, among others), the subjects of the social environment (peers, adults, neighbors), the teaching and non-teaching staff of the school.

Consequently, it is considered that the improvement of teachers is transcendental for confronting situations of violence in the educational community. These must be able to deepen and broaden their knowledge, improve their professional performance and, consequently, revolutionize educational practice (^{Perojo et al., 2019}), with a preventive and corrective-compensatory approach in situations of violence.

Despite the studies carried out by several authors and their contributions, it is considered that the scientific and practical results aimed at the improvement of teachers to confront situations of violence in the educational community are limited.

An initial exploratory study, related to the subject under study, between the years 2019-2020 based on the use of different methods (observation and interview), revealed the needs of the teachers of UNESCO associated schools in Cuba, regarding their level of preparation to face, from a preventive and corrective-compensatory approach, the damages and consequences caused by violence among members of the educational community.

Taking into account the aforementioned aspects, the objective of this article is to offer a professional improvement program for teachers to deal with situations of violence in the educational community, which will affect their level of preparation and modes of professional action before this social phenomenon, from a bio-psycho-social approach.

Materials and methods

The investigative process assumed the dialectical-materialist method as a general method for the construction of the necessary knowledge in the treatment of the problem described above, under a mixed research approach. It was supported by methods of the theoretical level (analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, systematization and system approach), empirical level (class observation and interviews with teachers) and statistical-mathematical (descriptive statistics). All allowed to systematize the theoretical, methodological and empirical knowledge and, in turn, offer a professional development course as a possible way of solving the problem posed.

The methods of the theoretical level allowed to theoretically and methodologically systematize the referents related to the professional improvement of teachers, the confrontation with situations of violence in the educational community and their respective preventive, corrective-compensatory approach.

The selection of the empirical methods and their respective instruments responded to the interests of the investigation. For this, indicators were used that obeyed the fundamental variable of the investigation: the process of improvement of teachers to confront situations of violence in the educational community.

The empirical level methods made it possible to verify the level of theoretical and methodological preparation and the professional performance of teachers to face situations of violence in the educational community.

The statistical-mathematical methods (descriptive and inferential statistics) used made it possible, from the primary data collection, to reflect the behavior of the indicators in absolute and relative data.

The integration of the results obtained allowed issuing the main regularities that characterize the current state of the level of preparation of 75 teachers (100%) who work in Cuban schools associated with UNESCO, intentionally selected as the research population; belonging to schools of different educational levels (early childhood, primary, basic secondary, pre-university and technical-professional education); all have a scientific degree of Master in Educational Sciences and professional experience ranging from 10 to 30 years.

Results

The empirical study carried out, through the use of methods and instruments such as observation of classes and interviews with teachers, allowed us to verify the level of theoretical and methodological preparation that teachers have to face situations of violence in the educational community.

In particular, the observation of classes made it possible to verify that the 75 teachers (100%) presented deficiencies in their professional performance to offer, from the direction of the educational process, a preventive and corrective-compensatory treatment to the student body involved in situations of violence in any of the contexts of the educational community, which was evidenced in the following results:

• It was noticed that 68 teachers (90.6%) showed insufficient knowledge about the different aspects covered by the definitions of violence as a social phenomenon in the educational community, as well as did not intentionally develop actions in order to prevent manifestations of violence. in the educational community. In the same way, a corrective-compensatory treatment was appreciated, to those students who could be involved in situations of violence.

• It was found that 64 teachers (85.3%) did not use methods, procedures and resources in order to prevent situations of violence and, in turn, correct-compensate for the consequences that these can cause in the development of the student's personality.

• In unison, it was observed that 68 of the teachers (90.6%) did not always establish learning tasks that would allow them to offer preventive treatment and correct-compensate in situations of violence in the educational community.

The foregoing could be corroborated in the interview with the teachers, since 100% of the selected population (75 teachers) manifested insufficient knowledge and mastery of the aspects that distinguish violence in the educational community, as well as the resources for its prevention and correction-compensation. The results obtained are described below:

• 68 teachers (90.6%) showed insufficient knowledge about the different aspects covered by the definitions of violence and the roles assumed by the students involved in these situations.

• They presented insufficiencies to name the different forms of expression of violence 64 teachers (85.3%); however, 52% (39 teachers) of them could mention several of the consequences that this phenomenon brings with it in the development of personality.

• 75 teachers (100%) wandered when mentioning biological factors as predisposing causes of violence, which did not happen with psychosocial factors, since 93.3% (70 teachers) could refer that this phenomenon has its genesis in the family and within the framework of interpersonal relationships.

• The methods and instruments for the identification of manifestations of violence in the school context were reviewed by 75 teachers (100%); however, when delving into the indicators to be evaluated, their lack of knowledge in this regard was verified.

• 48 teachers (64%) correctly referred to the preventive nature of situations of violence at school, not being the case with the corrective-compensatory, since 93.3% (70 teachers) of them referred very few resources and psycho-pedagogical support to be used in the face of the phenomenon, which in the same way makes it difficult to guide the family of students involved in situations of school violence.

Regardless of these results, 100% of the teachers (75) highlighted as very important the promotion of scientific results and methodological actions that guarantee a better preparation to carry out such work professionally. Based on these results, an improvement course was developed to deal with situations of violence in the educational community.

Course title: educational attention to schoolchildren involved in situations of violence in the educational community.

Number of credits: 1

Total hours: 30

Modality: blended

Approaching the confrontation with situations of violence in the educational community is not an easy task, since, in practice, the typologies and recommendations that are indicated in the specialized literature continue to be a matter of debate. The current and rapid social, political, and cultural transformations that are part of everyday life sometimes generate conflict situations that are frequently mishandled among children and adolescents.

For this reason, it is necessary to prepare an education professional capable of promoting, from their contexts of action, respect for others, the rights of all human beings, regardless of skin color, social status, sexual orientation, gender identity and social commitment. All this, in order to orient and guide the education of the student body, considering it a point of reference given its way of acting and an example of a system of values where solidarity, responsibility in educational work, fairness and dignity stand out.

Entry requirements

• Submit authorization from the work center.

• Be a college graduate. You must present the original title or the certified photocopy.

• Being a teacher

The general objective of the program is established: to model, from a preventive and corrective-compensatory approach, proposals for activities to deal with situations of violence in the educational community.

In correspondence with this, the knowledge system to be developed is the following:

• Violence as a social phenomenon. Types of violence. The nature of the acts of violence. Causes and consequences. Bio-psycho-social factors that cause the emergence of situations of violence in the educational community. Roles assumed by students in situations of violence and places of risk. forms of violence

• Inclusive and equitable quality education. Lifelong learning for all. Methods, procedures and resources for prevention and correction-compensation within the educational care of students in situations of violence in the educational community. Normative documents that contribute to confronting situations of violence.

• Strategies for coping with situations of violence in the educational community. Methods and instruments for diagnosis. The modeling of extracurricular and extracurricular activities. Projects. Educational project. Public good information campaigns, audiovisual materials.

The skills to develop are:

• Diagnose the current situation of the student body involved in situations of violence, as well as the contexts and subjects involved in their education and development.

• Assess the performance and transforming action of the education professional on the basis of universal and Cuban pedagogy.

• Model activities to deal with situations of violence in the educational community.

For the development of the course, premises with adequate hygienic conditions, computer or laptop, TV, mobile telephony with applications that allow the virtual participation of the contents are required (to view the support materials for the contents treated).

It is proposed as evaluation: systematic and oral. It will have two essential moments: the attendance, participation and involvement of the members of the group in the academic process and the ability of the participants to synthesize and integrate the issues addressed in the modeling of an activity that contributes to confronting situations of violence in the community. educational.

Basic bibliography of the improvement course

Estévez Arias, Y. Bulgado Benavides, D. Rodney Rodríguez, Y., Llivina Lavigne, M. J. y Disla Acosta, P. M. (2019). La atención educativa de niños, niñas y adolescentes en situaciones de violencia en la escuela. La Habana, Cuba: Educación Cubana.

Estévez Arias, Y. Bulgado Benavides, D. Rodney Rodríguez, Y., Llivina Lavigne, M. J. y Disla Acosta, P. M. (2020). Folleto 2: La prevención de las secuelas que originan en el estudiantado y corrección-compensación las situaciones de violencia. La Habana, Cuba: EDUVARONA, Editorial Universitaria Pedagógica Varona.

Estévez Arias, Y. Bulgado Benavides, D. Rodney Rodríguez, Y., Llivina Lavigne, M. J. y Disla Acosta, P. M. (2020). Folleto 3: Importancia de la escuela en la atención educativa del estudiantado afectado por situaciones de violencia. La Habana, Cuba: EDUVARONA, Editorial Universitaria Pedagógica Varona.

Rodney Rodríguez, Y., Estévez Arias, Y. Bulgado Benavides, D., Llivina Lavigne, M. J. y Disla Acosta, P. M. (2020). Folleto 1: la violencia como fenómeno social. La Habana, Cuba: La Habana, Cuba: EDUVARONA, Editorial Universitaria Pedagógica Varona.

Discussion

It is considered that the study carried out enriches the improvement process of the teachers of the Cuban schools associated with UNESCO, while theoretical and methodological references on the improvement of teachers and their relationship with professional performance are systematized, aspects that allowed selecting and structure the improvement course as a non-academic way to update knowledge and develop skills of teachers in dealing with situations of violence in the educational community.

The theoretical and methodological references assumed coincide with the considerations made by ^{UNESCO (2017)} and others, by focusing the study from an interdisciplinary, intersectoral and holistic vision, considering the confrontation with situations of violence in the educational community as a topic of human rights, protection, access to education, participation, integration, cultural diversity, equal opportunities and non-discrimination, as well as quality education. It also recognizes the role of the school, together with the family and the community, in fulfilling its function of forming citizenship, under the precepts of promoting inclusive societies and learning for all in a peaceful, fair, and No fear, no violence. It is a process by which "all members of the educational community learn to live with others" (^{Milena, 2021, p. 6}).

Another aspect where the theory is enriched is related to the assumption of the bio-psycho-social approach as a scientific and methodological platform for confronting situations of violence in the educational community, which allowed contextualizing and articulating the levels of prevention with the principle of correction-compensation of the possible sequelae that may cause such a phenomenon; novel aspect and, at the same time, in which it disagrees with other studies carried out at the national and international level in the treatment of the phenomenon in question.

From a dialectical-materialist and historical-cultural position, the bio-psycho-social approach is assumed, as the perspective that explains, through the integration of various individual, relational, social and cultural factors, the origin and sustainability of violence in the different contexts of the educational community, which must be taken into account for the development of prevention and correction-compensation actions, in situations of violence.

It means that the preventive and corrective-compensatory work of situations of violence in the educational community, has a sociohistorical and cultural condition that is expressed in the dynamics of the influence of biological, psychological and social factors, as well as the activity and the communication that is developed from the school by teachers and the rest of the community agents who participate and use violence as a means to resolve conflicts.

The prevention of violence in the educational community means developing a conscious, constant, coordinated and coherent educational process, aimed at enhancing the protective factors of the subject and the school environment, to act transformatively on this reality in a committed manner, to the detriment of the factors of risk that undermine the dynamics of the school.

In situations of violence, it must be borne in mind that prevention and correction-compensation are processes that are closely linked and promote:

• Protect children and adolescents.

• Reduce, neutralize or eliminate the effects of risk factors that favor its appearance.

• Reform, rectify and transform coexistence, learning and behaviors associated with violence.

• Repair the suffering, the damage caused, the psychological sequelae and the most immediate shortcomings of the student body and other members of the educational community.

Adequate compensation for the conduct of the student body and members of the educational community involved in situations of violence requires that teachers be able to design educational care actions where support tools and multiple resources are offered (^{Guerra, 2018}), in correspondence with its potential, for the satisfaction of psychological, pedagogical and social needs. Through corrective-compensatory work, the student body and the rest of the members of the educational community must see the need to describe, classify, compare, and value the behaviors of their classmates and their own; in addition to arguing, explaining certain actions and resolving conflicts in their behavior. Only knowing in depth how and why they act in this way and the consequences that these behaviors entail, can the need to transform arise.

Being consistent with the preventive levels [World Health Organization (WHO), 1998], the dynamics of preventive and corrective-compensatory work in situations of violence are contextualized as follows:

• The primary level of violence prevention should be directed towards the development of actions that allow, in advance, to prevent violent acts from happening at school or in any other space in the educational community. Such as, for example, developing activities that are related to awareness, raising a culture of peace and non-violence and the perception of risk of occurrence of situations of violence among members of the educational community.

At this level, it is not necessary to apply corrective-compensatory actions, since the situation of violence among members of the educational community has not objectively manifested.

• The secondary level of violence prevention involves developing immediate actions from the school, to prevent the aggravation of the consequences and conflicts that generated the situation of violence from happening, intending differentiated attention to those involved in the educational community.

You go through it when situations of violence already occur; therefore, preventive actions continue to be developed and correction-compensation actions begin to be developed.

• The tertiary level of violence prevention involves the development of long-term care actions after violent acts. Its purpose is the rehabilitation, reintegration and reduction of the consequences caused.

It requires the development of educational, therapeutic and legal actions with all the members of the educational community in crisis, for this reason it can include the intervention of health personnel, internal order, local authorities and the legal system, among others. In this case, the preventive and corrective-compensatory actions that are mentioned at the secondary level from the school continue to be developed, in addition to other actions with the participation of external socialization agents.

In this way, the confrontation with situations of violence in the educational community is characterized by having a holistic approach to education for sustainable development, in such a way that the right of everyone to a quality education and respect for human rights is contemplated. rights, as well as the participation of family members and other community agents (^{Arroyo and Berzosa, 2018}).

It means, projecting comprehensive care to the student body affected by one or more forms of violence that occurred in any socio-educational context, from the coordinated and strategic articulation of the school (it plays a leading role), with other institutions and social actors, where the family and the community are determining areas in this process.

Therefore, it corresponds to the school in general and to the teachers in particular to develop in a coordinated and coherent way a system of educational influences that allows preventing and correcting-compensating the violent behaviors that are manifested among the members of the educational community and for this, it must be based on the identification of the predisposing and conditioning factors that give rise to its emergence.

From a practical point of view, a professional improvement course was provided for teachers from Cuban schools associated with UNESCO, which allowed, from its conception and implementation, the proposal of various resources and valid good practices to be generalized for the coping with situations of violence in the educational community.

In future investigations, the impact of the introduction of the proposed course of professional improvement of teachers and its respective generalization to the rest of the teachers of the educational institutions of Cuba should be evaluated; even assess the possibility of proposing it as a subject of the own curriculum and optional / elective in the initial training of education professionals.

In summary, it is considered that the improvement of teachers to confront situations of violence in the educational community constitutes one of the ways to guarantee a true inclusion of the student body in a society that is as equitable as possible, as well as the promotion of coexistence for a culture of peace (^{Moreira and Aguirre, 2019}), and non-violence at school. The elaborated proposal reveals in its structuring the necessary aspects to transform the current state of preparation and performance of teachers, from a preventive and corrective-compensatory approach, to face situations of violence in the educational community.

Referencias bibliográficas

Arroyo González, M. J. y Berzosa Ramos, I. (2018). Atención educativa al alumnado inmigrante: en busca del consenso. Revista de Educación, 379, 192-215. https://doi: 10.4438/1988-592X-RE-2017-379-367

Bernaza Rodríguez, G. J., Aparicio Suarez, J. L., Martínez De la Paz, E., Torres Alfonso, A. M. y Alfonso Mansanet, J. E. (2020). La educación de posgrado ante el nuevo escenario generado por la COVID-19. Revista Educ Med Super, 34(4): e2718.

Cruz Pérez, L.C., Ramos Vives, M., Nardiz Cáceres, O. y Rivero Girad, D. (2018) Fundamentos teóricos que sustentan el proceso de superación profesional de los tecnólogos en Podología. Revista de Ciencias Médicas de Pinar del Río, 22(6), 1140-1148.

Díaz Lozada, J. L. y Martínez O Farril, L. M. (2021). La superación de profesores de Matemática: un reto para la educación secundaria básica. Mendive. Revista de educación, 19(1), 86-102.

Guerra Iglesias, S. (2018). Los estudiantes con necesidades educativas especiales. Recursos y apoyos para su atención educativa. Revista Electrónica en Educación y Pedagogía, 2(2), 51-66.

Milena Guzman, A. (2021). Relación de los factores familia-escuela en la convivencia escolar. Barranquilla: Universitaria de la Costa.

Moreira Aguirre, D. G. y Aguirre Burneo, M. E. (2019). Desarrollo de un modelo de promoción de ciudadanía y convivencia para una cultura de paz. Revista de Cultura de Paz, 3, 299-315

Perojo Martínez, D. A., Fernández Pérez de Alejo, G., González Pérez, S., Valdés Valdés, A.I. y Estévez Arias, Y. (2019). Estrategia de superación para los maestros en la atención de los escolares con dislexia. Rev Ciencias Médicas, 23(1), 90-98.

Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y La Cultura (2017). Rendir cuentas en el ámbito de la educación: cumplir nuestros compromisos; informe de seguimiento de la educación en el mundo. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223 /pf0000261016?posInSet=3&queryId=3081d274-6b64-4768-b36f-001340d9475f

Torres Torres, A., Casanova Acosta, X. y Miranda, A. J. (2022). La Educación Avanzada y su contribución al desarrollo de habilidades pedagógicas de los docentes asistenciales. Revista Pedagogía Profesional, 20(2).

Received: February 01, 2022; Accepted: May 13, 2023

^*Autor para correspondencia. E-Mail: [e-mail]

Los autores declaran no tener conflictos de intereses.

Los autores participaron en el diseño y redacción del trabajo, y análisis de los documentos.