Pedagogical competence of the teaching staff of the early childhood education program at the State University of Southern Manabí

Abstract

The educational environment faces constant transformations that require teachers with solid pedagogical skills. The Early Childhood Education career at the Universidad Estatal del Sur de Manabí has proposed in its work the reinforcement of methodological preparation, motivation for scientific work and the ability to manage change. Academic literature has addressed competencies in various areas, but there is a lack of studies on pedagogical competence from a psychological configuration, which generates a contradiction between the demands of the professional profile of the graduate in education and the effective development of such competence in teachers. The objective is to determine the pedagogical competence as a psychological configuration of the teachers of the Initial Education career of the Universidad Estatal del Sur de Manabí. A mixed approach with theoretical and empirical methods was used. The historical-logical method was used to analyze antecedents, the analysis-synthesis to review specialized bibliography and the inductive-deductive method to process scientific information. At the empirical level, surveys were administered to 10 teachers and 15 student leaders. The data were analyzed by percentage analysis. The results showed the need to strengthen teacher training in pedagogical competence, improve methodological preparation and promote positive self-perception of scientific and methodological work. In conclusion, the psychological configuration of pedagogical competence is key to the improvement of professional pedagogical performance.