Mendive. Journal on Education, january-march 2022; 20(1): 196-209

Translated from the original in Spanish

Original article

The professional development of teachers for the attention of students with intellectual disabilities in Belize

La superación del maestro para la atención a educandos con discapacidad intelectual en Belice

Deserie Idele Armstrong¹ http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4948-1525
Julio Antonio Conill Armenteros² http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1034-5398
María Cristina Salabarría Márquez² http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5630-1847

¹ Nazareno Shool. San Ignacio Cayo. Belice. deseriearmstrong@yahoo.com
² University of Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca". Cuba. julio.conill@upr.edu.cu, mariac@upr.edu.cu

Received: November 16^th, 2021.
Accepted: January 11^th, 2022.

ABSTRACT

The improvement of the Primary Education teacher for the educational care of students with intellectual disabilities, constitutes a priority of the Ministry of Education in Belize, which presupposes, from the legal framework, access to education for all students, including those who have special educational needs. This has led to the need to influence teachers so that they raise the quality of their work and can specify the educational response in accordance with the needs of each student. The deepening of the study led to the need for its treatment and to offer a response to this problem, so it is proposed as an objective to present the foundation of a theoretical-methodological conception for the improvement of Primary Education teachers on educational care required by learners with intellectual disabilities in Belize. In the research process, theoretical, empirical and statistical methods were applied, which made it possible to collect, interpret and process the information related to the object of study, in order to offer a solution to the identified scientific problem. The theoretical-methodological conception is based on two guiding ideas that promote the improvement of the teacher in terms of educational attention and its link with the methodological work to favor the performance of their work with students with intellectual disabilities. The evaluation by expert criteria allowed to verify the correlation between the theoretical and methodological value, revealing its feasibility in terms of favoring the teacher's improvement.

Keywords: theoretical-methodological conception; intellectual disability; improvement.

RESUMEN

La superación del maestro de la Educación Primaria para la atención educativa a los educandos con discapacidad intelectual constituye una prioridad del Ministerio de Educación en Belice, lo que presupone, desde el marco legal, el acceso a la educación de todos los educandos, incluidos aquellos que presentan necesidades educativas especiales. Ello ha provocado la necesidad de incidir en los docentes, a fin de que eleven la calidad de su labor y puedan concretar la respuesta educativa en correspondencia con las necesidades de cada educando. La profundización en el estudio condujo a la necesidad de su tratamiento para ofrecer una respuesta a esta problemática, por lo que se propone como objetivo presentar la fundamentación de una concepción teórico-metodológica para la superación de los maestros de la Educación Primaria sobre la atención educativa que requieren los educandos con discapacidad intelectual en Belice. En el proceso de la investigación se aplicaron métodos teóricos, empíricos y estadísticos, que permitieron recopilar, interpretar y procesar la información relacionada con el objeto de estudio, en aras de ofrecer una solución al problema científico identificado. La concepción teórico-metodológica se basa en dos ideas rectoras que promueven la superación del maestro en función de la atención educativa y su vinculación con el trabajo metodológico para favorecer el desempeño de su labor con los educandos que presentan discapacidad intelectual. La valoración por criterio de expertos permitió constatar la correlación entre el valor teórico y metodológico revelando su factibilidad en función de favorecer la superación del maestro.

Palabras clave: concepción teórico-metodológica; discapacidad intelectual; superación.

RESUMO

A qualificação do professor do Ensino Fundamental para o atendimento educacional aos alunos com deficiência intelectual é uma prioridade do Ministério da Educação de Belize, que pressupõe, a partir do marco legal, o acesso à educação para todos os alunos, inclusive os portadores de necessidades educacionais especiais. Isso tem causado a necessidade de influenciar os professores, para que elevem a qualidade do seu trabalho e possam especificar a resposta educativa em correspondência com as necessidades de cada aluno. O aprofundamento no estudo levou à necessidade de seu tratamento para oferecer uma resposta a esse problema, para o qual se propõe como objetivo apresentar os fundamentos de uma concepção teórico-metodológica para o aprimoramento de professores do Ensino Fundamental na atenção educacional. por alunos com deficiência intelectual em Belize. No processo de pesquisa, foram aplicados métodos teóricos, empíricos e estatísticos, que permitiram coletar, interpretar e processar as informações relacionadas ao objeto de estudo, a fim de oferecer uma solução ao problema científico identificado. A concepção teórico-metodológica baseia-se em duas ideias norteadoras que promovem o aperfeiçoamento do professor a partir da atenção educativa e sua articulação com o trabalho metodológico para favorecer o desempenho de seu trabalho com alunos com deficiência intelectual. A avaliação por critérios periciais permitiu verificar a correlação entre o valor teórico e metodológico, revelando a sua viabilidade em termos de favorecer o aperfeiçoamento do docente.

Palavras-chave: concepção teórico-metodológica; Discapacidade intelectual; superação.

INTRODUCTION

The impact of the development of science and technology in the contemporary world constitutes a reality for education in the current 21st century, since the increase in knowledge and the demands of offering a high-level school service become permanent demands for educational systems. The profound changes that have occurred in Belizean society as a result of this scientific-technological development have generated the need for continuous improvement of human resources. That is why the overcoming of the teacher becomes a social need of great importance for the achievement of the transformation of education.

For Belize, it is a challenge to carry out the transformation of the educational system and requires changes that enhance its development. When delving into the history of what has happened in the teacher training process, it is recognized that, in its beginnings, it was led by English and American missionaries; that it was not until 1964 that there were the first teachers in primary education trained in institutions in the country; that in 1993 there were teachers trained in the area of special education, and that, at present, there is no Special Education career in any of the country's universities.

It is from September 21, 1981, the date on which Belize achieved its independence from English colonialism that important transformations begin to take place. The government established by the Popular Unity Party (People's United Party) has carried out actions in favor of the development of the educational system, where its efforts have affected the training of teachers and also the population's access to education.

This led to the establishment of the Education and Teaching System Bases Law 3617/1, which in its Chapter 36, section 168 states: "No citizen or permanent resident of Belize shall be denied entry to school on the basis of race, ethnicity, language, political affiliation, the country where they were born or due to special needs, their economic and social position" (Belize Education and Training Act., 2011).

This law has allowed students with special educational needs to have access to education in ordinary schools. These changes and transformations that are taking place in different areas of Belizean society require the school to overcome teachers, where they, as trainers and protagonists of teaching, have to face the challenge of raising their level of knowledge to provide a service of quality based on comprehensive care for all students.

It is considered that the improvement of Primary Education teachers is essential to comply with the principle of educational inclusion, since they must be able to transform the conditions in which the educational process is developed and seek the methods, procedures and work styles that correspond to the particularities of the students. They must be prepared to meet the new personal and social needs of their students, including those with intellectual disabilities or other special educational needs.

Among the different reforms that have taken place to improve the educational system, there is the one referring to the fact that the College of Teachers joined with other existing faculties in the country and gave rise to the University of Belize, where there is the Faculty of Education in which the government has complete autonomy, an aspect of great value because it constitutes a strategic objective of the State, which enables the improvement and transformation of the educational processes that are carried out.

In the specific case of the district of Cayo, it has the University of Galen; This is private and accredited, which, together with the University of the West Indies in Belize City, offers certified, bachelor's and master's program courses.

The transformations that have been consolidating implicitly imply the challenge of overcoming teachers in favor of achieving equality and equal opportunities in access to education, and guaranteeing the inclusion of all in the different levels of education, where the success in achieving this goal depends largely on the improvement process that is designed. This constitutes a social demand present in the goals ratified by UNESCO in its agenda for sustainable development until the year 2030.

The theme of the improvement of teachers has been present in the studies of different authors: Lalangui, Ramón and Espinoza (2017); Gil (2018); Castro and Sierra (2018); Duk, Cisternas and Ramos (2019); Muñoz, Mena and Conill (2020), among others, which have served for the analysis and understanding of the need for teachers to improve as a way to face the challenges that exist in inclusive education, specifically for students with intellectual disabilities that are incorporated into the ordinary school.

The studies carried out, corresponding to the preliminary exploratory phase of the research, which included theoretical and empirical inquiries (observations, interviews, documentary analysis), reveal that at the "St. Francis Xavier RC", in Esperanza Village, Cayo District, Belize, the teachers who serve students with intellectual disabilities have theoretical and methodological insufficiencies that prevent them from offering quality educational care, which are reflected in the lack of mastery of their psychological and pedagogical particularities, the skills in the implementation of curricular adaptations, the use of differentiated methods, among others. This leads to the treatment of the problem related to the overcoming of the Primary Education teacher for the educational attention to students with intellectual disabilities.

For this reason, it is proposed as an objective to present the foundation of a theoretical-methodological conception for the improvement of Primary Education teachers on the educational attention required by students with intellectual disabilities in Belize.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The developed study assumed the dialectical-materialistic conception as a general method for the construction of the necessary knowledge in the solution of the scientific problem. Meanwhile, it relied on theoretical level methods such as: modeling, systemic-structural, analysis and synthesis, as well as induction and deduction. These methods allowed the systematization of the essential theoretical knowledge to base the theoretical-methodological conception; In addition, they allowed its modeling from the components and the essential relationships between them.

In the same way, methods of the empirical level were used, such as documentary analysis, observation of classes and interviews with teachers, which made it possible to diagnose the state of improvement of Primary Education teachers who attend students with intellectual disabilities.

The documentary analysis was used for the critical study of different normative documents and to synthesize their content, in relation to the attention to students with intellectual disabilities and the ways of overcoming used in the work with teachers.

The observation of the classes allowed us to verify how Primary Education teachers offer educational attention, determining strengths and weaknesses in the intervention process.

The interview with the teachers corroborated the level of preparation on the theoretical-methodological aspects, as well as the determination of the needs based on the state of their improvement.

In addition, the methodological triangulation technique was applied to analyze the data obtained with the application of the different instruments applied and to determine coincidences and discrepancies, as well as their causes, between the criteria issued regarding the relevance of the theoretical methodological conception and the strategy for its implementation.

For the processing of the information, descriptive statistics techniques were used based on the calculation of the index that allowed the evaluation of the variable in general, in addition to the components of inferential statistics for carrying out hypothesis tests in the processing of the criterion of the experts.

The study was carried out at the Primary School "St. Francis Xavier RC", Esperanza Village, Cayo District, Belize. For its realization, two sample groups were intentionally selected, the first made up of six teachers who serve students with intellectual disabilities and the second by two managers.

For the validation of the proposed theoretical-methodological conception, the expert criteria method was applied, where the objectives and aspects for the selection of possible experts were established, which included, among others, those related to their professional experience, their investigative actions and the result of their professional performance. Potential experts were asked to make a self-assessment of their competence and the sources that allow them to argue their criteria on the subject of the investigation.

According to the results of the self-assessment, the selection of 30 experts could be determined, of which 24 have a high level of competence in the subject under investigation and six experts have a medium level of competence.

RESULTS

In Belize, one of the challenges of Primary Education today is to be inclusive, in which all students can access the services that are provided according to their needs, regardless of whether or not they have a disability; therefore, differentiated educational attention must become a goal to be achieved by teachers and for which they must be prepared. That is why this study has ventured into the process of overcoming teachers, in order to know their status and be able to provide the resources and tools that allow them to better perform their functions before students with intellectual disabilities.

The documentary analysis included the Law of Bases of the Education and Teaching System, the study plan of the teacher training career for primary education, as well as the technical preparation and improvement plan of the Primary School "St. Francis Xavier RC".

All the analyzes revealed the existence of legal support for the process of educational attention to all citizens without distinction. The improvement that Primary School teachers receive is through summer workshops, which is insufficient to provide the attention that students with intellectual disabilities require, given the lack of systematicity and the dissatisfaction of needs. The technical preparation plan has a general character, with a lack of differentiation of the activities, in correspondence with the needs of the teachers, where actions with an intentional character towards the subject of intellectual disability are not appreciated. The school's improvement plans lack the organization and planning of activities related to attention to diversity.

The results obtained in the interview applied to managers show that there are limitations in the specification of the pedagogical aid to be used in the Teaching-Learning Process of students with intellectual disabilities, which also affects their differentiated attention. 100% consider that teachers lack the theoretical and methodological resources to provide the educational attention that these students require within the context of primary school. 50% recognize the importance and need to develop actions to improve teachers in this area.

The interview applied to the teachers revealed that 100% recognize how necessary it is to receive improvement in order to work with this type of student, given the lack of information on the subject. 62.5% consider that participation in courses, seminars and workshops has brought them general preparation to face the country's educational reform and that there are few activities implemented from school to contribute to their improvement, based on the development of knowledge in the area of intellectual disability.

The observations to classes allowed verifying that, in the use of methods, procedures and the implementation of the educational strategy, there is no differentiation in the activities. Lack of precision was also observed in the evaluation, as well as in the realization of curricular adaptations and implementation of help for students with intellectual disabilities, taking into account their potential, which results in limitations to plan and execute actions for educational intervention. .

The use of methodological triangulation made it possible to carry out an analysis of the results that are convergent and those that disagree, which allowed the identification of the following regularities in the process of overcoming Primary Education teachers who serve students with intellectual disabilities:

• Treatment at the level of theoretical-methodological knowledge related to educational attention to diversity is limited;
• the level of application of basic conceptual knowledge for the diagnosis, characterization and use of educational care strategies is insufficient, as they are not contextualized to the characteristics of students with intellectual disabilities;
• there is little knowledge of the essential components of the development of the class, the use of methods, means, procedures, resources and the psycho pedagogical characteristics of the students to adapt the activities to their needs and potentialities in the direction of the Teaching-Learning Process;
• The recognition by managers and teachers of the need to improve in order to correctly influence the care of students with intellectual disabilities, given the limited spaces allocated for these purposes.

To undertake the process of transformation of the existing reality, a theoretical-methodological conception is proposed, which is revealed as a system of ideas, judgments and concepts, in a systemic relationship with guidelines, suggestions and procedures for its implementation.

In this sense, the ideas that Aliaga, Arias and Acosta (2016) expose on the theoretical conception as a scientific result are recognized, as well as the precisions of Barbón and Añorga (2013) and that constitute essential arguments in the understanding of the different definitions that they are held on the conceptions, where the ideas, concepts and representations of a certain phenomenon and its organization stand out as important components to be studied.

By assuming it, it is recognized that the theoretical-methodological conception must be structured by two essential basic components: a theoretical component that includes concepts, premises, guiding ideas, among others, and a methodological component that enables the structuring of the intervention.

The theoretical-methodological conception that is proposed highlights in its foundations the value of the Primary Education teacher as an active element in the Teaching-Learning Process, based on reflective action and innovative practices, so that, at the same time that develop, learn and transform, transmit knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that must be preserved as a cultural historical legacy.

The objective is to offer a system of knowledge that serves as a guiding framework for the structuring of the process of overcoming teachers in relation to the educational care of students with intellectual disabilities that enable improvements in their professional performance.

An important component of the theoretical-methodological conception is that which refers to the guiding ideas. The following are assumed in this study:

Guiding idea one. The overcoming of the primary teacher as a process of permanent formation favors the professional performance for the educational attention to the students with intellectual disabilities.

This idea shows the necessary link between improvement as a process of permanent training and professional performance, in order to improve inclusive pedagogical practice, in which accessibility and quality of education are intertwined. The particularized overcoming of the primary teacher from the cognitive, affective-emotional and executive aspects, highlighting the guiding aspect towards the implementation of pedagogical help and the use of didactic resources for the intervention. With it, the variability of the characteristics presented by students with intellectual disabilities is taken into account, specifically in terms of conceptual, practical and social learning.

Taking a position on this guiding idea demands the establishment of a link with the different educational agents, so that there is an authentic relationship of collaboration-complementation between all those involved, so that it is comprehensive, and the participation of the MINED (Coordinator of the Center for District Education), from NaRCIE (as a Resource Center for Educational Inclusion), from community organizations and institutions, from the school council, counselors, specialized teacher and teaching staff, so that each one, from their respective specialties and interests, contribute to the process, based on the needs and potential of Primary Education teachers.

Guiding idea two. The relationship between the organizational forms of improvement and the dynamics of school intervention for educational attention to students with intellectual disabilities in Primary Education.

In the organization of the improvement process, the relationship established between organizational forms and school intervention must be taken into account, in favor of the development of educational care for students with intellectual disabilities. This implicitly implies the diagnosis of the potentialities and needs of the components that interact in the process of comprehensive education of these students and finding adequate ways for their improvement and transformation.

Through the use of methods such as bibliographic study, interview and observation, applied in natural contexts, it was possible to assess educational practices aimed at students with intellectual disabilities.

The biological aspects, curricular competence, learning style, context of the learner, socio-family and community context, are part of the comprehensive information that serves as a guide for the organization of ways of overcoming for the teacher and the planning of activities towards comprehensive training of the student and the process of school intervention.

The organization of the intervention strategy that is specified in the theoretical-methodological conception that is proposed will assume the levels of organization of the teaching process that the model of Primary Education in Belize proposes, incorporating the necessary elements related to overcoming, that allow achieve professional skills to deal with the educational care of students with intellectual disabilities.

The guiding ideas that are proposed are intended to guide specific aspects that favor compliance with the principles, which require, for their implementation, a high preparation of those involved. Hence, this theoretical component is interrelated, expressed and concretized in the methodological component that is pronounced in the strategy for the implementation of the theoretical-methodological conception.

That is why a strategy that is structured in four stages is proposed: diagnosis, planning, execution and evaluation. Each one of them is distinguished because its components are essential in the fulfillment of the general objective and it is characterized by being accessible, easy to understand, as it allows visualizing decision-making in practice and its harmonic articulation with the work program of the school.

The first stage is related to the diagnosis, where the previous actions are implemented for the transformation that is required as a result of the current state of improvement of the Primary Education teacher who attends students with intellectual disabilities. This is characterized by: specifying the dimensions and indicators to be taken into account in the collection of information; the design, application and evaluation of research instruments; conducting socialization workshops; the coordination of material and human resources, as well as the request for help from the MINED and the National Resource Center for Inclusive Education (NaRCIE).

The results achieved in the diagnosis favor the approach to the main needs that teachers present in the order of overcoming and the urgency of seeking solutions.

The second stage is related to the planning of the actions that are necessary to ensure the design of the forms of organization of improvement in their dialectical relationship with the forms of methodological work to attend to the regularities of the diagnosis, as well as the material and human assurance to implement them. It implies the exchange with the directors of the school to socialize the strategic projection, the actions and organizational forms necessary to contribute to the improvement of the teachers, which includes the holding of meetings, the preparation workshops, the improvement course, the self-improvement activities, training planning, among other aspects that facilitate the improvement of the professional performance of teachers who serve students with intellectual disabilities.

The third stage is associated with execution, which focuses its actions on the implementation of the different organizational forms of improvement, as well as the development of actions related to the theoretical-methodological preparation of teachers. The improvement course is developed, the strategy is implemented and the link with the planned improvement is established, which contributes to the development of the workshop for the exchange of experiences between the teachers of the school and the specialists involved in this process, which makes it possible to carry out design adjustments. This stage must facilitate the implementation of the improvement designed.

The fourth stage is related to the evaluation and it is important in the fulfillment of the improvement strategy from its two edges: as a process and as a result, taking into account the evaluation of the follow-up of the strategy and its impact on the exercise of the profession of teachers. Its objective is to assess, in the theoretical, methodological and attitudinal order, the changes that have been obtained from the actions carried out and the need to redesign them as a result of their implementation. The exchanges generated in the different workshops are of great value at this time.

Within the organizational forms of improvement assumed is the program of the improvement course, which aims to update the knowledge of Primary Education teachers in relation to the theoretical, methodological and attitudinal aspects that support the educational care of students with intellectual disability.

Three topics are planned that address the contents related to: the theoretical and methodological foundations of educational care for students with intellectual disabilities; the conceptual delimitations necessary for educational attention; and educational attention to students with intellectual disabilities: more effective ways and methods for its implementation in Primary Education.

Self-improvement is also assumed, which allows satisfying the needs of improvement independently. The elaborated program considered the school as the main context for its realization, from the development of the educational practice itself, which leads to the construction and reconstruction of knowledge that promotes self-improvement and educational innovation.

The topics under analysis are related to the challenges of the educational inclusion of students with intellectual disabilities in Primary Education; the didactic organization of the process of inclusion of students with intellectual disabilities; curricular adaptations in the teaching of students with intellectual disabilities included in Primary Education; and practices of educational care in Primary Education.

The improvement workshops that allow integrating and consolidating the theoretical-methodological knowledge acquired by the teachers in the course of improvement and as part of the self-improvement carried out are included in the process. In addition, they enable the exchange, interaction, and presentation of proposals, the confrontation of ideas, judgments and opinions. They include the participation of directors, specialists, depending on the topics discussed. They have been planned for duration of four hours each and their implementation in three moments: introduction, development and conclusions.

At the end of each workshop, generalizations will be made on the subject, as well as the proposed objective will be evaluated so that it serves as a basis for orientation, deepening, expansion and consolidation of those aspects that were discussed and that contribute to raising the performance of professionals' levels of Primary Education teachers in the care of students with intellectual disabilities.

Among the topics that will be analyzed in the workshops are: the existing legal foundations in Belize for the protection of people with disabilities; the psycho pedagogical diagnosis of students with intellectual disabilities; the theoretical-methodological references for the educational care of students with intellectual disabilities; the didactic organization of the process of inclusion of students with intellectual disabilities in Primary Education; the individualized educational strategy and the specific needs of educational support; among other topics of interest.

Also included, within the forms of improvement proposed, are scientific debates, consultancies and meetings to exchange experiences. These propitiate the scientific updating of teachers' knowledge through the presentation and exhibition of reasoning, judgments, questions; as well as the verification and comparison of ideas, knowledge and experiences that show professional and personal growth through the use of knowledge, skills and manifestations of attitudes developed in the improvement process. Individual and group reflections contribute to the creation of conditions for the ascending development of creativity and research.

In this way, the organizational forms assumed support and reinforce the actions developed during the process, allowing their effectiveness to be assessed, consolidating the knowledge acquired on the theoretical and methodological aspects that support educational care for students with intellectual disabilities, as well as achieving higher changes in the teachers about it.

The proposed theoretical-methodological conception was evaluated by 30 experts, who were selected based on the determination of their level of competence. Subsequently, a questionnaire was applied to them for analysis and assessment, which allowed verifying the importance they attach to each of the proposed aspects.

The generality of the experts recognized the relevance of the theoretical assumptions, where 70% value it as very adequate and 30% as quite adequate. In relation to the logical consistency of the relationship between improvement and the teacher's performance, 66.6% valued it as very adequate, while 33.3% considered it quite adequate.

53.3% of the experts considered the relationships between the components to be very adequate and 46.6% quite adequate. 63.3% considered the implementation strategy of the theoretical-methodological conception as very adequate and 36.6% quite adequate.

These values were expressed in the same way in the contents that were proposed for the master's improvement and in its applicability, where 43.3% understood it as very adequate and 56.6% as quite adequate.

The assessment by expert criteria allowed to verify the correlation between the theoretical and methodological value that are part of the essential foundations of the proposal, revealing its feasibility in terms of favoring the improvement of the teacher in the current context of the educational reform that is carried out in Belize.

DISCUSSION

The improvement of the teacher of Primary Education in Belize acquires greater importance because it is necessary to implement programs that respond, not only to the needs of improvement of those to whom it is intended, but also to the new scenarios in which they operate, those that are nuanced by educational inclusion to favor attention to the diversity of all students with or without disabilities.

The process of improvement assumed implies the realization of different organizational forms that imply theoretical-methodological actions that occupy an important time of the teacher's actions, so that in this way they can have repercussions in the performance of their functions, which makes it possible to highlight the continuous character, prolonged and permanent of this process, which is destined to favor the professional performance of the teacher.

Within the components that dynamize the theoretical-methodological conception, the relationships that are established between them stand out and that make it peculiar in the development of overcoming in favor of the educational work of the teachers of the Primary School "St. Francis Xavier", in the District of Cayo, Belize.

One of them is the relationship that is established between the situational context with the reality of the educational fact, where the transforming process is projected from the educational reality of the teachers for the attention to students with intellectual disabilities in Primary Education and its concretion in the process of preparing teachers, to contribute to their comprehensive education, from the unity between the social and individual, the cognitive-affective, the theoretical and practical.

The other is associated with the relationship between the differentiated character and the concreteness of the content of overcoming teachers, which is based taking into account the purpose of the preparation of Primary Education teachers in the educational attention to students with intellectual disability; as well as it is taken into account for the direction of the pedagogical actions conceived in the proposed theoretical-methodological conception and the real needs of the preparation system of the subjects involved in its execution and direction.

The last relationship occurs between the participation of the subjects in the generalization and management of knowledge, recognizing the active role of the teacher as a creative agent and generator of knowledge; Their self-preparation and self-improvement stand out, which become decisive elements in the construction of the necessary knowledge to face the educational fact and, at the same time, become a catalyst for the transforming effect caused by the teacher's preparation for the intervention process.

That is why the permanent improvement that Primary Education teachers need for educational attention to students with intellectual disabilities in Belize must constitute a process of continuous improvement, which, according to some studies, must be based on the development of society and its new trends (Bazantes, Delgado & Flores, 2019); For this reason, a diagnosis must be established of how the process has gone from initial training to the present, discovering the needs and proposing ways to solve them.

The theoretical-methodological conception for the improvement of Primary Education teachers in Belize, through their actions, aspires to specify the aspects highlighted by Imbernón (2020), in which he wondered where to go in continuous training, where highlights the value of "collaborative work" among the subjects' subject to transformation, emphasizing the need to "help them build projects from practice." In this sense, it offers great value to the school as a "unit of change", which allows it to move in an innovative way towards higher stages, so that along with the transformation of the teacher, the school is transformed, preventing it from continuing "doing the usual routine", so it is necessary to "generate innovations in the centers and reflection in practice: share doubts and problems, appreciate the problematic situations we have and how we can solve them" (p. 17-27).

The analysis carried out on the process of overcoming Primary Education teachers in the Cayo District, Belize, shows the evolution that the ways and forms used in the training of professionals in the country have had over time, which requires the improvement of some of its components, so that it can contribute to a more efficient performance of the teacher in the exercise of his professional practice, taking into account the impact of educational inclusion in the contemporary school setting.

The organization of the contents of the improvement in a logical structure that facilitates the integration of knowledge and skills to understand the dialectical relationships that exist between the diagnosis, the design of the improvement and the educational attention to students with intellectual disabilities, is revealed as components of the assumed process and an important path for the development of Primary Education in Belize.

The study developed on the state of the improvement process of primary teachers in the context of Belize, based on the educational attention of students with intellectual disabilities who attend regular school, revealed insufficiencies in its concretion; thus, the difficulties in the causes that originate it affect the professional performance of teachers.

In this sense, and as a scientific response to the stated objective, it is found in the theoretical-methodological conception the way that makes possible, with its structure and components, the systematization of the content of the professional improvement of the primary teacher in the school context of Belize; this from the philosophical, sociological, psychological and pedagogical foundations assumed, from the use of different organizational forms of improvement to address the contents related to the educational care of students with intellectual disabilities.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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