Mendive. Journal on Education, 22(3), e3886

Translated from the original in Spanish

Original article

Integrated system for the management of the professional guidance process towards local development

Sistema integrado para la dirección del proceso de orientación profesional hacia el desarrollo local

Sistema integrado de direcionamento do processo de orientação profissional para o desenvolvimento local

Yodanky Capó Márquez¹ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2123-3327
María de las Mercedes Calderón Mora¹ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7897-8418
Jhoannis Jacinto Rodríguez Avalos² https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6273-0784

¹University of Sancti Spíritus "José Martí Pérez". Sancti Spíritus, Cuba. maday.tr@yahoo.com; mcalderón@uniss.edu.cu
²Training Center of the Ministry of Tourism. Sancti Spíritus, Cuba. jhoannis@eht.tdad.tur.cu

Received: May 31, 2024
Accepted: August 2, 2024

ABSTRACT

Vocational guidance and its direction towards technical careers constitute priorities to contribute to local development from an educational process. The objective of the article is to propose a system that integrates the directors of Junior High Schools and those of companies belonging to Strategic Sectors, from their working systems, for the direction of the process of professional guidance towards technical careers, in the municipality of Trinidad. The result of the diagnosis about the direction of the professional guidance process was based on the theoretical study and the systematization of the daily practices of the directors when establishing alliances between sectors with different social objectives and the skills in the management functions to guide towards technical careers so as to contribute to local development. The educational context in which the diagnosis took place was in five Junior High Schools, in the municipality of Trinidad, in the province of Sancti Spíritus. Theoretical methods such as analytical-synthetic, inductive-deductive and empirical methods such as observation, document review, survey and interview were used. In addition, the descriptive statistics method was used to process the data obtained from the application of the diagnostic instruments. The results allowed to identify the strengths and weaknesses that, in the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers, were determined by educational and business directors and to design proposals for solutions, based on local development, through the use of the scientific method.

Keywords: local development; process management; career guidance.

RESUMEN

La orientación profesional y su dirección hacia las carreras técnicas constituyen prioridades para contribuir al desarrollo local desde un proceso educativo. El objetivo del artículo es proponer un sistema que integre a los directores de Secundaria Básica y a los de empresas pertenecientes a Sectores Estratégicos, desde sus sistemas de trabajos, para la dirección del proceso de orientación profesional hacia carreras técnicas, en el municipio de Trinidad. El resultado del diagnóstico acerca de la dirección del proceso de orientación profesional se basó en el estudio teórico y la sistematización de las prácticas cotidianas de los directores al establecer alianzas entre sectores con objetos sociales diferentes y las habilidades en las funciones de dirección para orientar hacia las carreras técnicas de modo que se contribuya al desarrollo local. El contexto educativo en el que tuvo lugar el diagnóstico fue en cinco Secundarias Básicas, del municipio Trinidad, de la provincia Sancti Spíritus. Se emplearon los métodos teóricos como: el analítico-sintético, inductivo-deductivo y los empíricos como la observación, revisión de documentos, la encuesta y la entrevista. Además, se empleó el método de estadística descriptiva para procesar los datos obtenidos de la aplicación de los instrumentos del diagnóstico. Los resultados permitieron identificar las fortalezas y debilidades que, en la dirección del proceso de orientación profesional hacia carreras técnicas, por parte de los directores educacionales y empresariales se determinaron y diseñar propuestas de soluciones, en función del desarrollo local, a través del empleo del método científico.

Palabras clave: desarrollo local; dirección de procesos; orientación profesional.

RESUMO

A orientação profissional e seu direcionamento para carreiras técnicas constituem prioridades para contribuir para o desenvolvimento local a partir de um processo educativo. O objetivo do artigo é propor um sistema que integre os diretores do Ensino Médio Básico e os de empresas pertencentes a Setores Estratégicos, a partir de seus sistemas de trabalho, para direcionar o processo de orientação profissional para carreiras técnicas, no município de Trinidad. O resultado do diagnóstico sobre o direcionamento do processo de orientação profissional baseou-se no estudo teórico e na sistematização das práticas cotidianas dos dirigentes ao estabelecer alianças entre setores com diferentes objetos sociais e nas competências em funções de gestão para orientar para as carreiras técnicas para que contribuem para o desenvolvimento local. O contexto educacional em que ocorreu o diagnóstico foi em cinco Escolas Secundárias Básicas, no município de Trinidad, na província de Sancti Spíritus. Foram utilizados métodos teóricos como: analítico-sintético, indutivo-dedutivo e métodos empíricos como observação, revisão documental, levantamento e entrevista. Além disso, utilizou-se o método da estatística descritiva para processar os dados obtidos a partir da aplicação dos instrumentos diagnósticos. Os resultados permitiram identificar os pontos fortes e fracos que, no sentido do processo de orientação profissional para carreiras técnicas, por parte dos dirigentes educativos e empresariais, foram determinados e desenhar propostas de soluções, baseadas no desenvolvimento local, através da utilização do cientista do método.

Palavras-chave: desenvolvimento local; gestão de processos; orientação profissional.

INTRODUCTION

At an international level, the new economic scenario demands the training and development of professional skills with higher levels of job performance, to face collective and individual situations in the current social order.

The prevalence of problems that affect the educational system is evident in the world, since we live in a unipolar world, where capitalism extends its policy, led by North American imperialism that imposes a neoliberal policy; it privatizes education and makes the state responsible for it.

In Cuba, the Communist Party's policy established the National Education System, which is currently undergoing a process of improvement, which contributes to the development of a comprehensive general culture in the new generations and is oriented towards the incorporation of adolescents and young people, from community contexts, into social and work life.

Cuban pedagogy works on the formation of professionals with a marked humanistic character, architects of the social project that is being built. Today, challenges are imposed on educational institutions and on the quality of the processes that take place within them, with the aim of contributing to general integral culture in new generations, an issue that is measured in social efficiency and for which it will be necessary to make qualitative changes in the direction of the processes.

The direction of the processes, seen from the perspective of the substantive processes that respond to the National Economic and Social Development Plan until 2030, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, which gives a leading role to education, innovation and scientific research, allows from the pedagogical processes, to influence integral human development.

In this regard, the emphasis placed by the Direction of the Ministry Education is acknowledged, taking into account the characteristics of its students and the current needs of training young people who will be linked in a short strategic period to production and services. Likewise, the procedures for achieving its strategic objectives in the continuous improvement project are strengthened.

The Third Improvement of the National Education System is currently being carried out, consolidating the elements analyzed. Preparing the staff responsible for the management of institutions is essential in the search to fulfill this purpose, that is why it is considered a process of social construction and reconstruction.

The management of processes at the Junior High education level constitutes the central axis for its development. In this scenario, the substantive processes of Educational Management and Professional Guidance are evident, the latter with an emphasis on solving local problems.

Researchers on the subject (Valiente et al., 2019) state that, in relation to the direction of processes, it is necessary to conceive them in a dynamic and permanent way. The systematic and continuous nature, as well as the pedagogical and political content that characterizes the direction, must be oriented towards the increasing elevation of the professionalism of the leaders, for the constant improvement of their performance and the results of the organization.

Different authors refer indistinctly to the direction of processes and agree that strategic decision-making, the assignment of tasks and responsibilities, monitoring progress and evaluating results to ensure successful management by processes, are elements that contribute to effective management, since they specify the need for a strategic conception that includes knowledge of management functions in the school for the improvement of its processes.

Among those consulted are: Herrera (2021), Tamayo (2021), Justiz et al. (2022), Guerras and Navas (2022), Vargas et al. (2022) and Cuevas (2024).

Consolidating through educational action, in Junior High Schools, the expansion of the motivational sphere of the adolescent towards productive activity and the different professions of his territory, allows the selection of a continuity of studies, in accordance with personal and social interests.

Being in charge of directing the substantive process of professional guidance implies a constant creative and innovative work to transmit necessary content to students and transform them into active entities of this process to face their future profession. Therefore, it must be conceived as a multifactorial phenomenon where motives, aspirations, motivations and attitudes converge.

Milá's (2023) contributions are important, stating that the professional orientation process is the progressive transfer of educational actions, through the dialectical unity between the personal and non-personal components; from the axiological and praxiological to achieve in students the conscious acquisition of the choice towards a continuity of professional study.

In this particular, the process of professional orientation and the reflections of López (2021) cannot be ignored, when he talks about orientation as a process and that it is taken into account that it occurs throughout the individual´s life going through different stages or moments, which are related to the level of personality development achieved by the subjects at the time of their insertion into vocational education and working life.

Today, the complexity of socioeconomic and cultural changes requires managers to develop strategies for continuous integration into the business world, a situation that in the educational field translates into the need to train the entire educational community to adapt to new situations from the spaces of the institutional curriculum, with an eye toward local demands.

A new perspective studies the process of professional orientation, which fundamentally focuses on its action in the pedagogical process and the need to contribute to local development, from an educational process. Therefore, it is urgent to delve deeper into the study of its components, interrelations and the purposes that define professional orientation, which provide it with comprehensive meaning and diverse opportunities for social transformation.

In the continuous improvement project, indicators of measures for management by objectives and substantive processes have been proposed, which from the Ministry of Education guarantee the strategic planning of its processes, for each educational level, based on comprehensive training, which must be fulfilled by the institutions, however, the methodological procedures are insufficient to make the management of professional orientation effective as a process in Junior High Education.

Therefore, it is inferred, as a problem to fulfill the general purpose and goal of the Junior High Education level, the system of relationships that allow creating communication and leadership mechanisms between the directors of the socio-educational community of the institutions to manage the workforce by linking companies with the educational process.

Strategically managing educational institutions involves coordinating and integrating knowledge, skills and values that foster a moral climate of affection, tolerance, respect for dignity, mutual understanding and acceptance, as well as a harmonious exchange between the objectives that characterize these relationships, elements that constitute weaknesses in the management of processes in institutions.

In accordance with the above, the director of Junior High Education is given the responsibility of establishing integration mechanisms for socio-educational agents and agencies and complying with the process of continuing studies for graduates of the level, with emphasis on careers that demand economic development of the locality and, as a priority, companies belonging to the Strategic Sectors.

In the municipality of Trinidad, in the province of Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, there are difficulties regarding the knowledge possessed by the directors of institutions and companies that respond to Strategic Sectors, for the direction of the professional orientation process, towards technical careers for local development.

In this order of ideas, the directors of companies belonging to the Strategic Sectors are largely unaware of the process of professional orientation, and they also have difficulties in connecting with Basic Junior Education.

The objective of this work is to propose a system that integrates the directors of Basic Junior Education and those of companies belonging to Strategic Sectors, from their work systems, for the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The general method followed was the dialectical materialist method, allowing the study of the object as a process, the determination of its components, as well as its contradictions.

At the theoretical level, the following methods were used: historical-logical, analytical -synthetic, inductive -deductive, for the processing of information, the interpretation of results and the elaboration of conclusions about the contents that favor the integration between the directors of the Junior education level and of companies belonging to Strategic Sectors and their contribution to local development, as well as the systematization and the system approach to achieve theoretical analysis between the fundamental concepts and the system as a scientific result that guaranteed the integration between educational and business directors, so as to promote better direction of the professional guidance process towards technical careers for local development.

From the empirical level, in order to verify the reality of the process under investigation, the following stand out: scientific observation, which allowed obtaining criteria regarding the direction of the vocational orientation process towards technical careers for local development, analysis of documents, which made it possible to corroborate the importance and relevance of the subject under investigation, as well as the real state of the process of direction of vocational orientation towards technical careers, determining the trends in terms of its influence on local development. The methods of interviews and surveys were used in the diagnosis of the direction of the vocational orientation process and in the assessment of the results of the integrated system developed. The expert judgment method was also used to assess the relevance of the proposed system. The application of empirical methods allowed the determination of strengths and weaknesses in the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers.

Among the strengths were:

• the willingness of the directors to contribute to the research,
• the recognition by the selected directors of the need and importance of linking theory with practice and the business sector with the educational sector,
• the attention from government structures to local development, an issue that favors the direction of the process,
• the existence of a municipal strategy to respond to sustainable development objectives,
• the practical evaluation of results that are generated in theory is an aspect that is dealt with by the technical management bodies,
• the existence of a work system that enables the director to organize his actions from the work plan.

The following were identified as weaknesses:

• the lack of integration between the directors of both systems was significant, since in general, they did not include each other in the others `strategies to direct the process of professional orientation towards technical careers,
• the space of the municipal technical advisory council of government is not being fully used to establish integration between business directors and the education system,
• the appropriation of the contents for integration between directors of companies belonging to Strategic Sectors and Junior High Education is insufficient,
• most of the directors do not establish the necessary coordination for the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers in order to manage the workforce needed in Junior High Education,
• there is a prevailing resistance among directors to a change in paradigm or model for establishing working relationships between entities with different corporate purposes.

The application of these methods allowed the study of the theoretical perspectives that underpin the direction of the process of professional guidance towards technical careers and its contribution to local development, as well as its behavior in practice.

Based on the collection, processing and analysis of data obtained through the application of empirical methods, it was possible to determine the level of improvement in the direction of the professional guidance process towards technical careers, from the integration of the directors of Basic Secondary School and companies belonging to the Strategic Sectors, of the Trinidad municipality, in the province of Sancti Spíritus.

The research was conducted in the municipality of Trinidad, in the province of Sancti Spíritus, involving eight Junior High schools and twelve companies belonging to Strategic Sectors. From this, an intentional sample was selected, made up of five educational directors and five business directors, with whom an integrated system was developed to improve the direction of the professional guidance process towards technical careers.

Empirical methods were applied, such as a review of documents on the issue of the direction of the professional guidance process. To this end, a document review guide was developed that took into account the concepts derived from the literature analyzed. Document analysis was applied to consult and compile the main data provided by legal and regulatory documents related to the topic, work objectives and line of research, in addition, the current requirements of the Third Improvement of the National Education System.

In this particular case, the following were analyzed: the objectives of the work, lines of research of the Junior High Schools and the Management System and Technological Innovation in Basic Junior High Schools and companies belonging to Strategic Sectors in Trinidad, as well as: documents from companies belonging to Strategic Sectors, reports of previous surveys to directors of both sectors carried out on the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers for local development.

The information collected was complemented with the results obtained in the survey and the interview with educational and business directors that allowed collecting information related to the preparation achieved by the directors for the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers in Junior High Education, their behaviors and attitudes and identification of practical problems in the direction of the process.

The survey facilitated the collection and processing of data in a fast and efficient manner. It was conducted with the aim of gathering information related to the preparation achieved by the directors for the direction of the vocational orientation process towards technical careers in Junior High Education, their behaviours and attitudes and to identify practical problems in the direction of the process to contribute to local development. It was applied to the 100% of the directors.

The interview was conducted with the 10 directors (100%). Its objective was to delve into the criteria obtained from the survey and the reflections about the information related to the preparation achieved for the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers in Junior High Education, their behavior and attitude. It made it possible to know the mastery of the contents of direction for professional orientation towards technical careers and their contribution to local development, as well as the impact of the directors of the Junior High Education level and those of companies that belong to Strategic Sectors.

The descriptive statistical method allowed processing the data obtained from the application of diagnostic instruments, systematizing the experiences, which facilitated making predictions, taking decisions and obtaining conclusions about the study carried out.

RESULTS

As a result of the application of theoretical methods, it was possible to analyze the scientific literature available before and after the Third Improvement of the National Education System, with respect to professional orientation and its direction towards technical careers, so that it would contribute to local development.

To ensure the validity of the results and to evaluate the criteria regarding the preparation of directors of Junior High Education and companies belonging to the Strategic Sectors for the direction of the professional orientation process as substantive processes of Junior High Education in Cuba, the combination of the initial and final control of the level of improvement achieved in the direction of the process is assumed.

The main directions of the study are outlined in the following ideas:

• the diagnosis of the problems related to the current state of the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers from the Institutional Educational Project,
• the analysis of the established dimensions and indicators and their correspondence with the proposed system based on the school-company link to achieve the goal conceived for the educational level,
• the new concept for the incorporation of cognitive, procedural and attitudinal dimensions, with respect to the level of improvement of the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers for local development,
• the diagnosis and evaluation of the level of improvement in the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers based on the quality of institutional curricula and new forms of work, for local development from an educational process.

These results were essential in determining the main theoretical foundations for carrying out the diagnosis and for projecting proposed solutions to achieve the appropriate level in the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers.

In the qualitative analysis of the observation, the behavior of the subjects who were part of the population was observed with respect to the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers for local development, where little assimilation was found in the face of changes in their planning in accordance with the new forms and styles of work.

It also allowed to observe that the capacity for integration to guide towards technical careers was insufficient, since of the 20 directors (100%), 12 directors of companies belonging to Strategic Sectors stated that they had little capacity for integration (60%) and 4 directors of Junior High Education stated that they were integrated to guide professionally towards technical careers (20%), the remaining 4 directors of Junior High Education (20%) were not fully integrated, so the impact between directors of both sectors did not fully favor local development, from an educational process, that is, professional orientation towards technical careers.

The review of documents showed that professional orientation and its proper direction constitute a priority for the local development of each territory and require the integration of the educational sector with the business sector, in order to attract from this level, the qualified labor force for priority sectors that demand human capital in strategic sectors for the economy.

Document analysis was applied to consult and to compile the main data provided by legal and regulatory documents related to the topic, work objectives and lines of research.

It was carried out using a document analysis guide that allowed obtaining quantitative and qualitative information on the treatment offered to the management of the professional orientation process towards technical careers, in Junior High Education.

In this particular case, the following were analyzed: work objectives, lines of research of Junior High Schools and the Management and Technological Innovation System in Junior High Schools and companies belonging to Strategic Sectors in Trinidad, as well as: documents of companies belonging to Strategic Sectors, work agreements, minutes of technical and management bodies, action plans of institutional and group educational projects, reports of previous surveys to directors of both sectors carried out on the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers and its correspondence with local development.

The review of documents allowed to establish elements of comparison for the determination of potential and needs related to professional orientation and its direction towards technical careers, based on the link between Junior High Schools and companies, the management styles assumed by the directors and the integration links through the government system, which constitutes a challenge of current education and for its fulfillment it is necessary that:

• the directors of Junior High Schools and companies, recognize the need for integration to improve the management of an educational process that influences the productivity and the development of business processes,
• directors must take into account the foundations of historical-cultural, economic-social and legislative theory to create integration mechanisms from work systems in order to coordinate actions for the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers,
• the connection between the business sector and institutions at the Junior High Education level in the actions conceived in the institutional curriculum guarantees the preparation of students, teachers and families for professional orientation according to local demands.

A total of 20 subjects were interviewed, 100% of the principals, who agreed to take part in the study. The subjects in the sample rated the idea of their integration with the principals of the educational system as positive.

Of the seven directors of Junior High Education, 87.5%, they claimed to have little knowledge of the strategic processes in companies, while 1, 12.5%, knew about these processes to some extent. Of the directors of companies belonging to Strategic Sectors, 11 (91.7%) stated that they had little knowledge of the substantive processes of Junior High Education, however, 1, 8.3% knew about them.

In this analysis it was evident that of the nineteen directors selected from both sectors, (95%) do not have mastery of the intersectoral integration policy towards technical recruitment and training, since only 1 from Junior High School (5%) stated that he knew this policy.

Regarding the mastery of local development actions that integrate both sectors, the 20 directors, (100%) of both sectors, stated that they are aware of this need, however, they stated that they did not master these actions, and they were not even evident from their economic development plans.

In the interview with the directors, the criteria issued allowed to gather information related to the preparation achieved for the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers in Junior High Education, their behaviors and attitudes and to identify practical problems in the direction of the process.

They referred to the mastery of strategic processes in companies by educational directors and in turn the level of knowledge that business directors have of substantive processes in Junior High Education.

They also offered ideas on how it is possible to achieve integration between sectors with different social objectives to increase the recruitment, training and incorporation into employment of students in technical careers that respond to Strategic Sectors, from Junior High Education.

The interviewed directors expressed criteria related to the need to be included in the actions of group educational projects to guide towards professions, from complementary activities in the socio-educational network. This was attractive and interesting for the interviewees.

In general, the results of the applied methods offered a diagnostic view of the behavior of the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers so that it contributes to local development, in Junior High Schools and companies belonging to the Strategic Sectors, in the Trinidad municipality.

DISCUSSION

Regarding the diagnosis carried out, one of the weaknesses was detected, the significant lack of integration between the directors of both systems, since in general, they did not include each other in the other´s strategies to direct the process of professional orientation towards technical careers.

The directors state that the deficiencies come from previous processes where generally the work relationships for professional orientation were developed between the institutions of Technical Professional Education and the companies, with common responsibilities in the professional training of the students, in an educational context and as a complement in the work centers and attached classrooms. An issue that is endorsed in Decree Law 364/2019, but the link with the Junior High School was not within their contexts of action.

On the other hand, educational directors established agreements with Technical Professional Education institutions for the implementation of Vocational Training and Professional Orientation activities towards specialties and families at this level, but not directly with local companies.

Given the current situation and the barriers that prevent the implementation of the Third Educational Improvement, the application of new forms and styles of work for the management of the processes that identify the Junior High Education level becomes more complex, since in the institutional curricula the influences that the students receive are generally formed by the teachers and families of the institutions themselves.

Discussions on the subject have not delved into the content to establish the necessary coordination in the direction of the process of professional guidance towards technical careers, in order to manage the workforce that companies demand, from the work carried out in Junior High Education.

In the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers in Junior High Education, the systemic sequence of its functions must be taken into account, in which the mastery of knowledge, the formation of skills and the development of capacities are demonstrated to guarantee the success of an educational or business institution, based on the progressive transfer of actions between personal and practical components to influence the choice towards a continuity of technical-professional study.

The study carried out in this article has shown that professional orientation and its direction are a priority to ensure that students who choose technical careers have an approximate knowledge of their meaning and the basic future tasks that allow them to make a conscious choice, particularly in the specialties that demand towards local development.

The elements related to professional orientation provided by: Remón Fonseca et al. (2019), Velázquez and Hernández (2020), Soto (2020), Díaz (2021), González (2023), were important while conceiving professional orientation as an important process in the formation, development and performance of motives towards the profession or working life.

It is necessary to know the significant links that the subject establishes when interacting with different scientific contents related to the profession, his work and with the people who are part of these contexts where experiences are decisive.

Remón Fonseca et al. (2019) point out: "Career guidance takes place throughout a person's life, it begins at an early age and does not end with the student's graduation from a professional center, but extends to the first years of his or her professional life, it is reaffirmed systematically and continuously during training in the career he or she is pursuing, it is, therefore, conceived as part of the process of educating the subject's personality that prepares him or her for responsible professional training and performance" (p. 94).

In turn, the criteria of Velázquez and Hernández (2020) are considered relevant, who reflect on the help process offered by specialized information on the various trades and professions, to the same extent that students are helped to identify their possibilities and limitations, their interests, projects, in short, the personal and social resources that each subject has to make the appropriate selection or to remain in the selected profession, with an active, positive and transformative stance.

In accordance with previous authors and interpretations of orientation as a process, it can be stated that it implies, on hand, the notion of progress, development, or the course of a transformative action; and on the other, the recognition and existence of a certain sense of systematization that is present in every process and allows it, in turn, a certain degree of order.

Therefore, when talking about the professional orientation process, we agree with Soto (2020), conceiving it as the permanent and informed task of support, by a professional who knows the social, political and cultural aspects of the context in which the students operate and builds future perspectives and mature and successful realities.

Díaz's (2021) definition is significant when he says that: "orientation can develop in one direction of growth or another, essentially the areas of orientation are worked on: school, personal, social, sexual and professional" (p. 81)

Therefore, education cannot be seen separately from orientation, giving rise during its development to other important terms such as professional orientation, highlighting in this subject González (2023), who considers professional orientation as a process that runs throughout a person's life, which begins from the earliest ages, but such a process does not culminate with the student's entry into a professional center, but it will continue to extend until the first years of his professional life.

This same author adds that it is part of the process of educating the subject´s personality, preparing him for the choice, training and responsible professional performance, where all educational agents of the school, the family and the community intervene as counselors together with psychologists and pedagogues who make up the team of professional counselors.

In this sense, the author's intention is highlighted when relating the substantive process of professional orientation in the educational system, the socio-educational community that intervenes in this process and the concretion in the institutional curriculum, defined by the author as areas of orientation.

In accordance with the above, the authors of this article propose about the professional orientation:

• It is a helping process that facilitates personal and social growth.
• It constitutes a personological alternative to direct the process of orientation towards the development of the motivational and cognitive sphere of the subject's personality.
• It requires educational influences that structurally articulate with the knowledge, skills, motives and professional interests of students to determine a short, medium and long-term future.
• It establishes links with those responsible for providing the workforce, guaranteeing continuity among education, training and employment, adapting to the needs and demands of the local context.
• It makes students aware of the importance of work in life, it develops values and skills for professional life and abilities to deal with decision-making processes, it helps to reduce the influence of stereotypes and to discover the characteristics of different professions, influencing the development of the qualities necessary for their performance.

Similarly, the Third Improvement of the National Education System, in its general bases, assumes the current pedagogical trends, where the most feasible is to put the student at the center and the intentions of achieving an integrative formative process, which attends to and respects diversity. It provides, among the elements to be transformed, the efficiency of the comprehensive diagnostic process, to ensure the transit of students through each grade of the educational level in which they are, based on the conception of a quality education, which demands giving coherent responses to diversity (Aguilera, et al., 2021)

There are, however, a series of elements, contained in the educational reforms, which favour the development of this curricular approach for guiding action:

• Establishing levels of specification of the curricular design gives educational centers the possibility of specifying, according to the needs of their context, the basic proposals of the Ministry of Education and Science contained in the so-called Base Curriculum Design.
• The comprehensive meaning that is attempted to be given to the training of students, opens space for affective-value and attitudinal content, together with cognitive content, when designing institutional curricula.
• The role that is intended to be given to the institution in the selection, planning and implementation of new educational programs, as well as attention to its objectives and specific strategies for the management of its processes.

In general terms, the study presented constitutes a theoretical result available for consultation by directors of other educational institutions, not only at the Junior High education level, but also of all General Education Subsystems, based on the responsibility for recruiting students for pedagogical, technical-professional and senior high training. In addition, it serves as support for the actions that must be carried out by the Technical Councils of the Local Government.

The authors of this article understand that it is necessary to continue to delve into the coherent action between the educational and business sectors to manage the necessary workforce and the diagnosis of other companies that make up the study continuity plans for ninth grade graduates, to develop solution proposals using the scientific method, so that the development of an adequate direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers can be offered.

The implementation of the proposed integrated system, characterized by the harmonious interrelation of a set of actions contained in subsystems, allows in a systemic way the improvement of the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers, from the integration of directors of Junior High School and companies that belong to Strategic Sectors, of the Trinidad municipality, by influencing as a coherent whole the socio-educational community, for local development.

The practical effectiveness of the integrated system was confirmed by the results of the pre-experiment, which transformed the level of improvement of the direction of the vocational orientation process towards technical careers for local development, based on the dynamic interrelationship of the directors of both sectors, by expressing the acquired knowledge, the way of proceeding and the attitude towards their improvement.

The directors of Junior High Schools and companies belonging to Strategic Sectors, in the Trinidad municipality, recognized the importance of perfecting the direction of the professional orientation process towards technical careers and the need to link the school and the company, the disposition for their preparation and the leadership for local development.

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The authors declare not to have any interest conflicts.

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