Analysis and assessment of the educational needs of secondary education teachers in training in uruguay as the grounds for the design of a professional development program

Abstract

This paper will set the grounds for the design of a professional development program aimed at high school teachers in training. For this, after describing the context, we analyzed the needs of training, which is a key element when attempting to design a program. We first carried out source consultation in the Latin-American and international contexts which have analyzed the topic generically. Secondly, we implemented the empirical analysis of such sources through a typically evaluative research methodology. The results were grouped according to the subjects’ perspectives. Both the trainee teachers and the school boards of the consulted high-schools state that there are needs for training. These included professional knowledge (especially pedagogical and psychological) teachers/teaching community education link and attitudes towards their profession which, according to the school boards, must be the subject of continuous training and skill development for trainee teachers. In accordance with this, the above-mentioned teachers express a sentiment of great need for continuing with their professional self-training, knowing how to deal with teenage students and behavior, and encouraging learning. Student diversity and inclusion also create needs of professional training in trainee teachers.