Pedagogical professional performance of teachers in the Mixed Center "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca"

Pedagogical professional performance of teachers in the Mixed Center "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca"

Desempeño profesional pedagógico de los docentes en el Centro Mixto "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca"

Atuação profissional pedagógica de professores do Centro Misto Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca

**Cite as**
Cruz Melgarejo, Y., Acosta Iglesias, A. & Álvarez Cabreriza, A. (2023). Pedagogical professional performance of teachers in the Mixed Center "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca". Mendive. Revista de Educación, 21(3), e3278. https://mendive.upr.edu.cu/index.php/MendiveUPR/article/view/3278

The expansion of mixed centers in the National Education System in Cuba is part of the transformations that have been carried out since the 2010-2011 school year, and currently they have expanded considerably. In these institutions, several educational levels are combined with a single direction, which should favor the system of educational influences. In the "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca" Mixed Center, in the San Luis municipality in Pinar del Río, students from Basic Secondary and Technical and Professional Education converge, which demands a renewed and innovative action from teachers to face the challenges of the educational activity; that is, a professional pedagogical performance according to such demands. It is important to point out that Technical and Professional Education is a different education; distinctive for its peculiarities. The objective of this work was to socialize a pedagogical strategy, which contributes to the improvement of the pedagogical professional performance of teachers in the aforementioned institution. The research was carried out on a dialectical-materialist basis, in which theoretical and empirical methods such as historical-logical, inductive-deductive, analysis-synthesis, modeling, system approach, observation, analysis, and analysis were used. documentary and interview, which allowed a theoretical and practical study of the educational reality to arrive at this scientific result, which contributed to the professional pedagogical performance of teachers in their educational practice.

Keywords: mixed center; teachers; pedagogical professional performance; Technical and Vocational Education.

La expansión de los centros mixtos en el Sistema Nacional de Educación en Cuba forma parte de las trasformaciones que se llevan a cabo desde el curso escolar 2010-2011, y en la actualidad se han ampliado considerablemente. En estas instituciones se combinan varios niveles educativos con una dirección única, que debe favorecer el sistema de influencias educativas. En el Centro Mixto "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca", del municipio San Luis en Pinar del Río, convergen estudiantes de Secundaria Básica y de la Educación Técnica y Profesional, lo cual demanda de un accionar renovado e innovador de los docentes para enfrentar los retos de la actividad educativa; es decir, un desempeño profesional pedagógico de acuerdo a tales exigencias. Es importante señalar que la Educación Técnica y Profesional es una educación diferente; distintiva por sus peculiaridades. Este trabajo tuvo como objetivo socializar una estrategia pedagógica, que contribuya al mejoramiento del desempeño profesional pedagógico de los docentes en la referida institución. La investigación se realizó sobre una base dialéctico-materialista, en la cual se utilizaron métodos teóricos y empíricos tales como el histórico-lógico, el inductivo-deductivo, el análisis-síntesis, la modelación, el enfoque de sistema, la observación, el análisis documental y la entrevista, que permitieron realizar un estudio teórico y práctico de la realidad educativa para arribar a este resultado científico, que contribuyó al desempeño profesional pedagógico de los docentes en su práctica educativa.

Palabras clave: centro mixto; docentes; desempeño profesional pedagógico; Educación Técnica y Profesional.

A expansão dos centros mistos do Sistema Nacional de Educação em Cuba faz parte das transformações que vêm ocorrendo desde o ano letivo 2010-2011, e atualmente eles se expandiram consideravelmente. Nessas instituições, vários níveis educacionais são combinados com uma única direção, o que deve favorecer o sistema de influências educacionais. No Centro Misto "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca", do município de San Luis em Pinar del Río, convergem alunos da Educação Secundária Básica e Técnica e Profissional, o que exige uma ação renovada e inovadora dos professores para enfrentar os desafios da atividade educacional; ou seja, uma atuação pedagógica profissional de acordo com tais demandas. É importante ressaltar que a Educação Técnica e Profissional é uma educação diferenciada; diferenciado por suas peculiaridades. O objetivo deste trabalho foi socializar uma estratégia pedagógica, que contribua para a melhoria do desempenho profissional pedagógico dos professores da referida instituição. A pesquisa foi realizada em uma base dialético-materialista, na qual foram utilizados métodos teóricos e empíricos como histórico-lógico, indutivo-dedutivo, análise-síntese, modelagem, abordagem de sistemas, observação, análise e análise. documentário e entrevista, o que permitiu um estudo teórico e prático da realidade educacional para chegar a esse resultado científico, que contribuiu para a atuação pedagógica profissional dos professores em sua prática educativa.

Palavras-chave: centro misto; professores; atuação profissional pedagógica; Educação Técnica e Profissional.

The strengthening of mixed centers in Cuba is the result of the process of continuous improvement of the educational system at different levels, with the purpose of bringing educational services closer to the community and making optimal use of physical spaces, material and human resources. In these school institutions, sharing the same context, the training of students belonging to different educations is developed, under a single pedagogical and administrative direction.

Given the particularity of these centers, the pedagogical work of teachers is more complex, compared to that carried out in other school institutions, which demands a more rigorous pedagogical professional performance. A conception is required that integrates the objectives of the present educational levels, as well as attention to the specificities of each one.

Several researchers have directed their studies to the professional pedagogical performance of teachers. Just to cite a few: Sepúlveda and Fernández (2017); De la Rosa, Guzmán and Marrero (2018); Alhadabi & Karpinski (2020); Solernou, Quesada and González (2020); Alcívar, Baque and Calderón (2021); Del Milagro and Oseda (2021); Zaldivar and Quintal (2022) and Venet, Panesso and Cardoso (2022); among others.

Mixed centers have achieved moderate progress in teaching-educational work. However, the diversity of processes that are carried out in the teachings that comprise it, the differences in the training and preparation of teachers, the current state of the training process of students, the challenges and demands that result from the integration center mixed-family-labor entities-community, the functioning of the technical and management bodies in the mixed center in the same way as in institutions that have only one teaching, the lack of integration in decision-making and agreements adopted, between Other issues make the pedagogical activity of teachers in this type of center complex. This is because they have to exert their educational influence, as has already been noted, on students at the Basic Secondary level and Technical and Professional Education (ETP), who have different characteristics.

The investigations of Maturell and Valiente (2017) stand out, as well as those of Barceló, Doimeadios and Ceballo (2019), on the improvement of the professional performance of the directors of mixed centers and the main antecedents of the management of educational work in these institutions, as influential elements in the formation of the student body in that diversity.

In particular, in the "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca" Mixed Center, in the municipality of San Luis in Pinar del Río, as a result of an exploratory study carried out on the professional pedagogical performance in the educational practice of teachers, based on the application of a observation guide, an interview guide for managers, as well as the review of documents, allowed to identify as a problematic situation that teachers present limitations in professional pedagogical performance, which hinders work with students of the teachings that coexist in said center.

The work has the objective of socializing a pedagogical strategy, which contributes to the improvement of the pedagogical professional performance of teachers in the "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca" Mixed Center.

The research is descriptive and was carried out at the "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca" Mixed Center in the municipality of San Luis in Pinar del Río, in the period September 2021-September 2022. A population of 37 teachers and two department heads.

The investigative process was carried out following the dialectical conception of the investigation, which has as its methodological basis the dialectical-materialist method and theoretical and empirical methods were used.

Historical-logical: it made possible the study of the theoretical-conceptual framework on the professional pedagogical performance of teachers in mixed centers, from different theoretical positions.

Inductive-deductive: it facilitated the analysis of the subject, moving from the general to the particular and to the singular, establishing the essentials in the pedagogical professional performance of teachers in mixed centers.

Analysis-synthesis: provided the identification, organization, planning and summary of the pedagogical strategy, for the improvement of the pedagogical professional performance of teachers in the "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca" Mixed Center.

Modeling: allowed to make the abstractions and generalizations that are revealed in the projection of the pedagogical strategy.

System approach: it was applied in the integration of the research results, as well as in the establishment of relationships of interdependence and subordination of the pedagogical strategy.

Observation: made to teaching, extra-teaching and productive activities to verify the current state of the pedagogical professional performance of teachers in the "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca" Mixed Center.

Documentary analysis: the Study Plans of the teachings were reviewed, as well as the work plans and reports, admitting to verify to what extent and how the process of improving the pedagogical professional performance of teachers in the Mixed Center "Hermanos Saíz Montes" develops. of Goose".

Interview: allowed to obtain valuable information, from teachers and principals, about the process of improving the pedagogical professional performance of teachers at the "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca" Mixed Center.

This section presents the results obtained with the application of theoretical and empirical research methods. From the study carried out, the topicality of the problem was demonstrated; It was also possible to confirm, based on the diversity of criteria on the professional pedagogical performance of teachers in the "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca" Mixed Center, that it constitutes a priority issue, as a requirement of contemporary society.

In a search carried out in the scientific literature, it was observed that there are not enough theoretical foundations to support the professional pedagogical performance of teachers in the mixed centers where the ETP is present, which led to the proposal of a pedagogical strategy that contributes to the development of this process in the teachers of the aforementioned institution.

It was derived from the study that the professional pedagogical performance of teachers constitutes an essential pillar in the training of the student body for the continuity of studies and for the insertion in the labor world in the case of ETP students.

For the empirical study, observation was applied to 10 teaching activities and eight extra-teaching activities and the same number to productive activities of the students. It was verified that the actions are undertaken without taking into account the integrated actions of the teachers who work at the Basic Secondary level with those of the ETP. It was observed that there is little systematicity in the follow-up to the diagnosis of ETP schoolchildren.

On the other hand, from the documentary analysis, it was possible to verify that the actions that are developed to contribute to the process of improving the pedagogical professional performance of teachers in the "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca" Mixed Center are insufficient, since they are not recognizes its procedural nature.

In the methodological work strategies of the departments, it was found that the planning, organization, regulation and control of the teaching-educational process is unsystematic. There is little monitoring of the professional pedagogical performance of teachers in the "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca" Mixed Center, in such a way that they favor the professional, social and humanistic development of students.

Regarding the interview with teachers and principals, the results corroborated, based on the criteria of the majority of the interviewees, that the process of improving the professional pedagogical performance of teachers in the Mixed Center "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca", was is being developed without following a systemic and integrative order of actions, which allow teachers to be properly prepared to direct the training of students in the aforementioned institution.

The previous evaluations reveal the need for change in the situation that is distinguished and, in this sense, a pedagogical strategy is socialized that contributes to the improvement of the pedagogical professional performance of teachers in the Mixed Center "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca".

The pedagogical strategy addressed is defined as the organization with foundations, objectives, stages and actions to be developed, for the realization of the pedagogical professional performance of teachers. The actions have a system character; therefore, they move in ascending order, according to the planning established in the methodological work strategy for each instance of the center. These components are presented in Figure 1.

The determination of the objectives of the professional performance allows the precision of the purposes that will establish the guidelines for the improvement of the process. These define the why of the process, what is to be achieved, where to direct the actions based on the change. They arise from the social demands, derived from the educational policy that are raised to improve the pedagogical professional performance of the teachers who work in the mixed center and the needs derived from the diagnosis of their current state.

The objectives constitute the guide for the entire process and are oriented towards the content of the actions aimed at teacher preparation. These are:

Assuming the above actions implies taking into account certain fundamentals. The nature of the subject under study determined the need to recognize the dialectical-materialist conception, as a philosophical support of education in its most general sense. From this angle, the link between theory and practice is taken into account, materialized in the study-work principle, which constitutes the guiding idea on which the Cuban educational system and essentially the ETP are built.

This forced to examine it from the materialist, dialectical and historical sociological vision of education, while the pedagogical process is the bearer of social interests; that is, they must contribute to the full integration of teachers in the mixed center into the social context, individual-society relationship.

Therefore, the pedagogical strategy for the improvement of the professional pedagogical performance of the teachers of the mixed center must take into account the organizational particularities of the work context in which their actions are carried out.

Assuming the process of improving the professional pedagogical performance of the teachers of the mixed center, as a social phenomenon, leads to assuming the historical-cultural psychological approach within its theoretical and methodological base. The historical-cultural school considers the social factor as the driving force of psychic development, which starts from the dialectical-materialist premise that man is a social being by nature, a product of society, hence the social origin of psychic functions. superiors.

As a result of the relations of cooperation and integration of the actions carried out by teachers in the mixed center, the theory of formative learning and personal growth is based.

On this basis, the process of improving the professional pedagogical performance of the teachers of the mixed center requires taking into account the relationship between the categories of General Pedagogy and ETP Pedagogy.

This leads to recognizing, as part of the pedagogical foundation, the model of shared professional training mixed center-labor entity, the integration between the two educations that converge in the institution and the integration in the processes they develop.

This forces us to assume didactic foundations. Although the activities for the professional pedagogical performance of the teachers of the mixed center have a theoretical content that must be assumed from certain organizational forms (conference, seminar and workshop), its essence is in the "know-how". Therefore, the content must have its corresponding concretion in practice as a basic postulate of professional training.

The stages taken into account in the improvement of the professional pedagogical performance of the teachers of the mixed center are the following:

Diagnosis stage of professional performance. It constitutes a process that fulfills the function of providing systematic and updated information on the professional performance of directors of mixed centers, on the influence of personal and organizational-environmental factors that are associated with it, and on the status of the dimensions that concern the improvement of said performance and of the specific processes that allow it to be achieved, which serves as a source for the design and redesign of the objectives, content and improvement actions.

As a process, the diagnosis of the improvement of the professional performance of teachers in mixed centers has as fundamental moments: planning and organization, data collection and information gathering, and conclusions.

Design stage of professional performance improvement. It establishes a process whose function is to determine the elements in which the actions are going to be specified, based on the consideration that this should not be considered from a single dimension, while performance has a multifactorial nature. Therefore, said content is multidimensional, as a consequence of the influence of personal and organizational-environmental factors, on which the improvement process has to act.

Stage of execution of the content of the improvement of professional performance. It manifests the development of the actions embodied in this sense.

Professional performance evaluation stage. Its content is the systematic obtaining of information on the work of teachers, for the characterization of the real state of their pedagogical professional performance, which allows the continuous improvement of the quality of their work, the definition of policies and actions for the promotion, the stimulation and recognition of their performance, the organization of work and the projection of training and development.

Regarding professional pedagogical performance, it has occupied the dedication of different researchers and scholars from the last stage of the 20th century to the present. So much so, that the problems inherent in its theoretical treatment, conceptualization and determination of the criteria and indicators for its evaluation, constitute the subject of a deep discussion in the scientific field.

This section will direct the analysis towards some theoretical assumptions about the concept of professional performance, addressed by different researchers, and will point out the professional pedagogical performance of the teachers of the Mixed Center "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca", professionalization of the municipality of San Luis in Pinar del River.

The debates of the term pedagogical professional performance of teachers are developed around the criteria of various researchers. It has been studied by psychologists, pedagogues, sociologists, among other specialists, with a variety of investigative perspectives, and they have exposed dissimilar ways of referencing the concept. These are distinguished in the context of the teaching profession in denominations such as professional pedagogical performance, professional pedagogical performance and teaching performance, among others, when it is related to the process and result of teaching and learning.

It is appropriate to start the study with the criteria of Lago, Alea and Rodríguez (2019), who consider that:

For González (2022) "teaching performance, being a human aspect, is key to achieving a professional practice in accordance with the requirements of society and of the moment" (p. 26).

True, today teachers must be immersed in a process of constant integration with the changes that occur in society; have the predisposition to learn, both in terms of knowledge, skills, values, communication and technology, in their professional activities before, during and after the development of the teaching-educational process. These elements are essential and must be highlighted in the work that is carried out in the mixed center, in Basic Secondary and ETP education.

Similarly, Venet, Panesso and Cardoso (2022) believe that "Every day society demands more strongly the training of professionals capable not only of efficiently and effectively solving the problems of professional practice but also of achieving ethical professional performance.", responsible and pay attention to the educational formation of the student" (p. 63).

The teaching performance must be understood as the fulfillment of the pedagogical functions, which are oriented towards the integral development of the students of the mixed center, encompassing various areas and specialties, which, interrelated, give a systemic character to the teaching-educational process in the educational institution. In this way, it can be expressed that the way in which teachers function depends to a large extent on improving the quality of the educational system at different levels, particularly in the aforementioned mixed center.

In the studies of Ramírez, Otero and Velázquez (2022) it is revealed that the diversity of processes in the different instances, the differences in the training and preparation of teachers, the social situation of student development, the demands and needs that emanate of the family-school-community link, in correspondence with the psycho-pedagogical demands of the students, among others, make the management of processes in this type of center more complex, since it has to materialize with the presence of various educational levels.

On the other hand, the evaluation of teacher performance plays an essential role; This is significantly related to the academic performance of the students, finding similarity with studies carried out.

The importance of the teacher demonstrating in his performance mastery of aspects related to the field of his profession and teaching, will allow him to have a better job with the students of the mixed center.

The professional pedagogical performance of the ETP teacher stands out in this investigation, for constituting a different education present in the mixed center. To this professional, his pedagogical activity projects various tasks concerning the work he does; Within them, the main one is in function of the direction of the Technical and Professional Education process during the training of the competent worker, in the context of the integration of the mixed center-labor entities and the community. This process is conditioned by the characteristics of the students and by the social responsibility of its graduates. For its development, teachers must fulfill three basic functions that are listed below.

The teaching-methodological function, concerning the direction of the activities of the Technical and Professional Education process. It includes the diagnosis, planning, organization, execution and evaluation of the academic, labor, investigative and extension components.

Orientation function. It is related to the support system that the teacher and other more capable classmates provide to the students who require it, in the fulfillment of their school tasks and in the solution of the professional problems of the study plan.

The research-improvement function. It demands the search for information and the scientific-technical preparation in those contents of Pedagogy, Didactics and Methodology of the technical specialty, with an interdisciplinary nature, as well as the study of the characteristics of the ETP student, to face and solve the various and complex problems of the training process and its comprehensive technical-professional development. It is distinguished that when the teacher achieves a successful pedagogical professional performance it is that his pedagogical activity acquires a true sense of its own.

This criterion corresponds to what was proposed by Bermúdez et al. (2014), who define the professional pedagogical performance of the ETP teacher as:

In this case, the concept polytechnic school is replaced by mixed center; both constitute educational institutions, but with particularities that merit a differentiated work based on the training of the new generations.

As a pedagogical professional performance of teachers in the "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca" Mixed Center, it is conceived: the subject's ability to fulfill their functions, actions and roles of the activity they develop, the achievement of self-improvement , institutional and social, evidenced in their preparation for the transformation and production of new knowledge, as well as values and full individual satisfaction when executing their tasks with precision, accuracy, depth, quality and speed.

After examining the subject, it is revealed that the training, development and improvement of the professional performance of teachers, identified in the works studied, as fundamental content does not guarantee, by itself, their true success. It must be considered that it is conditioned by the activity of the subjects and, therefore, the improvement must be conceived from the bilateral link and, more precisely, from the integration of the actions undertaken by the teachers of Basic Secondary Education. and the ETP.

Assuming these theoretical references, which allow us to support this research analysis, it can be concluded that the study of professional pedagogical performance is difficult and contradictory, which reflects the complexity of the phenomenon studied and explains the diversity of approaches that have been presented, the which contemplate different aspects of the teacher's performance.

The scientific novelty of the proposed result was evidenced, given that the pedagogical strategy allows improving the pedagogical professional performance of teachers in the "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca" Mixed Center.

Mixed centers in Cuba demand professional performance from teachers that allows them to transform reality, and improvement, methodological work and research play a fundamental role in this.

The subject investigated is pertinent and current, since it responds to one of the pressing problems of the Ministry of Education: the improvement of work in mixed centers based on the professional performance of managers and teachers.

Alcívar-Moreira, Á. V., Baque-Castro, G. Y., Calderón-Chinga, G. M. & Campuzano-López, J. G. (2021). El desempeño profesional docente y el cumplimiento de los estándares educativos del Ecuador. Polo del Conocimiento, 6(1), 352-361.

Alhadabi, A & Karpinski, A. C. (2020). Grit, self-efficacy, achievement orientation goals, and academic performance in University students. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25, 519-535. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1679202

Bermúdez Morris, R., León García, M., Abreu Regueiro, R. L., Pérez Martín, L. M., Carnero Sánchez, M., Arzuaga Ramírez, M., Menéndez Padrón, A., Pérez García, C., Pérez Viera, O., Armas Velasco, C. B., Rodríguez Sánchez-Osorio, R. y Meneses Madrigal, A. (2014). Pedagogía de la Educación Técnica y Profesional. La Habana, Cuba: Pueblo y Educación.

Barceló-Riverón, R., Doimeadios-Martínez, R. & Ceballo-Bauta, K. (2019). Principales antecedentes de la gestión de la labor educativa en centros mixtos. Maestro y Sociedad, 15(4), 781791.

Gonzales, R. (2022). Desempeño docente y logro de aprendizajes en estudiantes universitarios. Revista Innova Educación, 4(2), 2. https://doi.org/10.35622/j.rie.2022.02.002

De la Rosa Villao, A. S., Guzmán Ramírez, A. C. y Marrero Salazar, F. R. (2018). Modelo de profesionalización pedagógica de los docentes universitarios para la gestión del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Revista Electrónica Formación y Calidad Educativa, 6(3), 91-106.

Del Milagro-Chávez Otero, M. E. y Oseda Gago, D. (2021). Influencia del acompañamiento pedagógico en el desempeño docente en la unidad de gestión educativa local de Santiago de Chuco. Revista Ciencia Latina, 5(4), 29-53.

Lago Queija, M., Alea González, M. & Rodríguez González, J. (2019). El mejoramiento del desempeño profesional pedagógico de los docentes para la evaluación formativa. Revista Cubana de Educación Médica Superior, 33(1), 1-18.

Maturell Aguilera, A. & Valiente Sandó, P. (2017). El mejoramiento del desempeño profesional de los directivos de centros mixtos: Resultados de un estudio diagnóstico. LUZ, 16(1), 92-103.

Ramírez Román, R., Otero Góngora, Y. y Velázquez Fombellida. N. (2022). Las relaciones de coexistencia, integración y coordinación en el centro mixto. Revista EduSol, 22(80), 1-11.

Sepúlveda-Alzate, J. H. & Fernández-Morales, M. del C. (2017). Modelo de estrategia pedagógica para el desempeño profesional pedagógico de docentes universitarios de lengua inglesa. Entramado, 13(1), 148-170.

Solernou Mesa, I. A., Quesada Rodríguez, M. y González Díaz, L. (2020). Mejoramiento del desempeño docente de profesores graduados de carreras de la salud. Presente y futuro. Revista de Ciencias de la salud, 4(3), 28-36.

Venet Pérez, M. de la C., Panesso Patiño, V. & Cardoso Camejo, L. (2022). El desempeño profesional pedagógico: Retos para el docente universitario. Revista Mapa, 6(28), 28. https://revistamapa.org/index.php/es/article/view/338

Zaldivar, A., M. & Quintal Escobedo, S. A. (2022). Factores que influyen en el desempeño docente del nivel básico. Un estudio en la zona rural de Yucatán, México. Plumilla Educativa, 29(1), 15-27.

The authors participated in the design and writing of the work, and analysis of the documents.