Conceptions and imaginaries on general and specific didactics of teachers and students of the Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education of the Minuto de Dios University Corporation, Uniminuto

Abstract

In the training of graduates in early childhood education, didactics is directed in two directions. The first corresponds to the conceptions and imaginaries that teachers of future graduates have about didactics and the way in which they approach and assume it in their classes. The second is oriented to how undergraduate students conceptually and praxeologically appropriate didactics in their practice scenarios. Thus, the present study analyzes the conceptions and imaginaries about general and specific didactics that teachers and students of the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education program at Uniminuto – Seccional Antioquia – Chocó have and the impact of these conceptions on their pedagogical practices. The study was carried out from a qualitative, descriptive-analytical approach. The analysis of the findings was done under pre-established conceptually based categories. Analyzes led to the construction of subcategories or emerging categories. Based on the elaborated categorical analysis, the imaginaries of teachers and students were related to the theoretical foundations of the field of general and specific didactics. The study included a sample of 29 teachers and 20 fifth and seventh semester students who were studying the teaching spaces of the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education program at Uniminuto – Sectional Antioquia – Chocó. The publication shows similarities in the conceptions of the term didactics between teachers and students, as well as a similarity in imaginaries that define didactics as resources, strategies and teaching-learning methods. Compared to the category of specific didactics, a greater variety of terms and variables that students and teachers use to define them are evident. On the other hand, it can be inferred that, in the sample studied, there is little clarity in the relational differences between education and pedagogy, which affects the epistemological understanding of didactics. Another significant finding corresponds to the fact that students and teachers allude that didactics is mainly oriented towards learning. Finally, it is evident that the students carry out their pedagogical activities. To conclude, the study discusses the issue of didactics training for future graduates in early childhood education who will work in early childhood care, especially when didactics is oriented toward teaching, and the Colombian public policies that define initial education, they propose that at this stage children are not guided towards teaching but rather towards comprehensive development. From the above, it is proposed to constitute a field of study of didactics oriented towards child development and not specifically towards teaching.