La Educación Social como Profesión: Cuestiones Iniciales sobre su Ausencia y Posible Importancia en Ecuador

Abstract

In the Ecuadorian State there is no Social Education as a profession. Would it be necessary? Are there social or professional practices that fulfill their function, that being the case? The objective of this paper is to state initial questions that later allow understand the possible importance of this profession in Ecuador. This is an exploratory research which includes firstly a bibliographical revision about such broad issues. Secondly, it describes the brief experience of the profession in Ecuador, which establishes a link with Spanish Social Education. It makes a revision of Spanish Social Education development as a profession and it exposes its most basic characteristics. Finally, the document tries to clarify the situation of the profession in Latin America in order to raise questions that guide future lines of investigation. Perhaps, seek of Ecuadorian experiences regarding the issues related to Pedagogy and Social Education could contributes to start new actions to develop its own social professions.