Professional capital of primary school teachers: An analysis from their professional careers

Abstract

Teacher professional development is a central issue in the design of educational policies because it is related to educational improvement. In education research, this construct has been problematic to approach since it has to be studied as an evolving process in which several factors intervene. This research aimed to approach the understanding of teachers' professional development through the study of professional trajectories from the theoretical approach of “professional capital.” The design corresponds to qualitative research; for the construction of the trajectories, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 Mexican elementary school teachers, whose teaching experience ranges from 12 to 32 years. The results show that teachers are constantly looking for different ways to increase their professional capital, with the intention of favoring their development. They also show the effects of the teaching career in Mexico, in which the tendency towards precariousness, the intensification of the profession and the marked presence of labor regulations that guide teachers' decisions and actions in the search for job stability are visible.