Las competencias que los profesores de educación básica movilizan en su desempeño profesional docente

Abstract

This PhD thesis corresponds to the final result of a three year research carried out at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (School Psychology and Development Program, Department of Evolutionary Psychology and Education). In this work, our main objective was to describe primary school teachers perceptions of their own competences in relation to processes such as, training process for teaching, creation of a favorable environment for the students learning, teaching for diverse type of students, their own professionals responsibilities, and the way primary schools teachers are evaluated by their superiors in their own competences. The research underlying assumption is that for the professionals in the area of education learning how to see and to learning how to discover the teachers perceptions about their own professional performance is fundamental when facing the challenge of introducing changes into the beginners training process, the teachers professional training and the teachers professional development. We believe it can facilitate to reach the quality, and equity improvements that the society demands to educate systems, especially in primary school. The research methodological framework is empirical and focuses on the teachers own perceptions about their professional performance and how they are evaluated by their superiors, through an evaluation and self evaluation instrument structured in domains, criteria and descriptor, based on the Chilean Ministry of Educations instruments. Particularly, the instrument is based on The Standards for Teachers Professional Performance, The Effective Teaching Frame and The Evaluation Instrument used in the Professional Practices of Pedagogy students at Playa Ancha University of Education Science, which was designed by the researcher. This study was carried in two stages, the first, consisted on the auto evaluation of two hundred and four primary school teachers from second cycle in primary education (from 5th to 8th primary school grade) belonging to twenty nine primary schools, which depend on Viña Del Mar s Municipal Corporation for the Social Development. The second stage corresponded to the auto-evaluation, and evaluation of two hundred and eighty four primary cycle teachers (from 1st to 4th primary school grade) belonging to forty two Primary School that depend on Viña del Mar s Municipal Corporation for the Social Development. These teachers participated voluntarily, as a response to an invitation that was extended to forty two primary schools that make up the universe of Municipalized Primary School from Viña del Mar, Chile. In this study, the professional competences that the teacher brings into action belong to the context of their professional practices, following the total cycle of the educate process, which is divided into four areas or domains: the teaching training, the learning environment creation, the act of teaching, and the relation with the environment and his/her own professional reflection. In each of these domains there are four basic questions that every teacher must ask. What is necessary to know? What is necessary to know how to do? How well it must be done? And, how well is it being done?