The work addresses some problems that arise in the educational process in Youth and Adult Education in the municipality of Primero de Enero.
On this basis, an analysis of the theoretical and methodological foundations that support the training of teachers for the use of organizational elements of the classroom context of multigrade primary schools, which allows to improve the work of teachers and the organization of said process in the Unified Center ¨19 de Julio¨. The proposal is specified in a theoretical-methodological conception, which is distinguished by offering the design and foundation of said conception, includes requirements, variants, methodological alternatives of organization based on requirements. It proposes proceeding to carry out the diagnosis, selection and preparation of school mediators and the preparation of teachers, who contribute to the improvement of the educational process.The foundations of the dialectical-materialist conception are assumed in the application of methods and techniques of the theoretical and empirical level, and of mathematical processing. The results of the quality assessment and evaluation of the effectiveness of conception are offered. The work experience of one of the authors of the work for thirty-seven years is taken into account.
INTRODUCTION:
The changes that are taking place today in education in Cuba, supported by the conception of transformation and development of the educational process, need teachers who respond to the demands of the educational context that are universal, but with a particular nuance in Education. Youth and Adults.
It is pertinent to highlight that the basis of the work is inspired by the educational work of Raúl Ferrer, evidenced in the work carried out as a teacher in the rural school No. 273 of the Central "Narcisa", in Yaguajay, where what could be called the pedagogical laboratory begins. of the teacher, and his influence was manifested in the further development of his actions, outlining important guidelines in the Education of Youth and Adults.
The purpose of Youth and Adult Education in Cuba is to help workers, housewives, and adults in general receive the necessary knowledge base for their training or professional development, develop appropriate habits and skills that allow them to continue their self-study studies and other forms of formal or informal education, to develop a general and comprehensive culture which favors the enjoyment and satisfaction of cognitive, spiritual and material interests.
In the municipality of Primero de Enero, Youth and Adult Education is integrated into a Unified Center in which courses are offered through meetings of Workers and Peasant Education (EOC), Secondary Workers and Peasants (SOC) and Facultad Obrera y Campesina (FOC), and care for illiterate people.
Sometimes there are limitations in the teaching coverage, limited the presence of the teacher in simultaneous activities that can be developed in the center, which disadvantages the management process with emphasis on the moments of orientation and evaluation, availability of classrooms that limit the teacher attend various groups during the meeting time, limited material resources to carry out practical activities, and it is insufficient to take advantage of the potential of some students to support the educational process.
The analysis carried out by the authors, based on the personal experience of one of them for 37 years in Youth and Adult Education, and of the other author, whose doctoral research competes in the organization of multigrade primary schools; the exchange with specialists, the bibliographic study, the participation in national and international events, allow them to enter the study to improve the educational process based on the training of their teachers, and to reveal an important group of potentialities and problems, among which include:
Potentialities: the members of the Board of Directors are masters, one of whom is a Candidate for a Doctor in Pedagogy, the teaching staff composed of contracted professors have extensive experience, and the willingness, motivation, interest and unity of the group in the fulfillment of tasks that require collective effort.
Problems: insufficient teacher preparation regarding the organizational elements of the classroom context of the multigrade primary school and details about how to prepare them.
The expressed needs allow us to establish the following scientific problem: how to contribute to the training of teachers regarding the organization of the educational process of the centers of Youth and Adult Education during the development of teaching activities?
This leads to the following contradiction: the necessary organization of the educational process of the centers of Youth and Adult Education during the development of teaching activities for the implementation of the current transformations and the vision that exists in the current pedagogical conception that endorse the Organizational potential of the classroom context of the multigrade primary school for the use and contextualization in Youth and Adult Education, which enables teachers to be trained.
The research aims to: propose a theoretical methodological conception for the organization of the educational process of the centers of Youth and Adult Education during the development of teaching activities.
In the research process, a system of methods and techniques of educational research were used, which constituted the starting point to establish objectively the needs and interests of teachers and their appreciation of the effectiveness of the proposal: theoretical level methods, empirical level methods and mathematical processing methods.
The novelty is distinguished by offering organizational elements of the classroom context of multigrade primary schools contextualized in Youth and Adult Education for teacher training. The practical significance lies in the applicability of the proposal, a reference material for professionals, managers and teachers, with content aimed at the preparation of teachers, and the diagnosis, selection and preparation of comprehensive mediator students, with the demands, Variants, methodological alternatives and requirements that contribute to the improvement of the educational process in Youth and Adult Education.
DEVELOPING:
The research assumes a theoretical-methodological framework that allows structuring and representing the organization of the educational process in Youth and Adult Education, oriented through a theoretical and a methodological dimension.
Operationally defined as a theoretical-methodological conception is the set of ideas, opinions and judgments about the organization, development, control and transformation in practice, of the educational process, during teaching activities in the current conditions of Youth and Adult Education, taking into account the potentialities of the organizational forms of the classroom context in multigrade primary schools.
Structure of the conception: general foundations, pedagogical principles, guiding ideas and the requirements for the organization of the educational process, which guide the demands and the proposed alternatives.
General foundations
The teacher in the educational process, to achieve his objectives, uses different resources or pathways, which are closely related to the individual development of the personality and the contextual conditions, and uses them depending on the knowledge and skills that he has developed in the activity. practice or in daily life, allowing decision-making in accordance with the objectives set.
Teachers have the greatest responsibility in the training of students. To achieve this, it is necessary to prepare the teaching staff and the management structures that are in charge of directing the educational process. The training and development of students is a priority of society, especially in the context of the current changes taking place in the Cuban educational system.
To achieve these results, it is necessary to increase the responsibility of teachers, in self-reflection on their professional activity, determine successes and errors, create the need to make modifications and, consequently, achieve their involvement in changing points of view and way of acting, in order to obtain greater efficiency in educational work. The above requires adequate orientation and preparation that allows the multifaceted development of its students.
It is worth highlighting that in this type of school it is necessary to enhance the relationships between teachers and students during the development of activities, because currently the teacher must adjust the claims of the process and take advantage of the potential of the students and contribute to the formation of their motivations., so you must have knowledge regarding related theories.
One of the ways of establishing teacher-student relationships is group work, in this sense in course 61 of the 2009 International Pedagogy Event Dr. C Humberto Marrero Silva offers methodological recommendations aimed at group learning in the multigrade, whose process It includes the preparation of the school group, the materialization and evaluation, with which the authors of this research fully agree because they allow the development of teaching activities in the schools of Youth and Adult Education.
Young people and adults, even those with limitations and even the diagnosis of their potentials and needs, present qualitative varieties of development, whose external influences are not assimilated by everyone in the same way, manifestations that depend on material and social conditions. in which it operates, the cultural level, orientation and preparation of the "others", the care provided, the intensity, systematicity and quality of the organization and influence of education and teaching (educational, psychological and didactic management) and the attitudes, examples and demands offered from the contexts in which they interact and relate.
They are biological, social and cultural beings, with their individual, educable characteristics, with a qualitative growth of certain aspects, accompanied by an improvement in their quality of life through participation, interactions, roles and positive relationships in different contexts of action, the necessary systematic aids, stimulation, their developing potentials and their rights, with which they appropriate experiences in order to achieve a full and independent life. (Rodríguez Castillo, C. 2012).
The transformations of Primary Education are valid for multigrade schools, which means that at certain times the teacher can only attend directly to the students of one grade. In this type of school, the teacher has more than one grade, in which students from different cycles and subcycles with different levels of cognitive, procedural and attitudinal development interact in the same classroom, and where there are different activities simultaneously that require the presence teacher, this makes this process more complex.
Currently, in the Requirements of the Primary School Model, three variants are proposed for the organization and direction of the learning process, which constitute general rules that can be resized and interpreted by the teacher in accordance with the needs of his class group:
Variant 1: Combine directed activities throughout the class (the teacher works directly with the students of one grade), while those of the other grade carry out the activities independently, based on the guidelines given by the teacher and during all the classes they alternate between one grade and another, both directed and independent activities.
Variant 2: Initial collective activities for the different grades on the same content alternating at different times in the class with differentiated activities for the different grades, which can be carried out independently by students and present different levels of difficulty, according to their development and grade.
Variant 3: Organization of the activities to be carried out by the students of the different grades through forms of cooperative work, of help from the schoolchildren of higher grades, to the lower grades, in correspondence with the objectives of the activity. (Quoted by Crespo, N. 2012)
In consideration of the authors of the work, organization of the educational process in the schools of Youth and Adult Education constitutes the coordinated actions within and outside the classroom context, between the processes and people involved on the basis of the organization of relations between their personal components through contacts, agreements, contracts, systematicity and evidence in which a personal space must be preserved to achieve the multifaceted development of the students.
The schools for young people and adults assume special characteristics, due to the fact that to achieve their purpose, they interact with the human being in a double condition: as a personal component of the process (students, teachers, among others) and as a result or product achieved (student learning, knowledge, abilities, habits, capacities, norms of behavior, values), which constitutes the expression of the fulfillment of the purpose and objectives of the institution.
The development of some activities in schools of Youth and Adult Education, according to the criteria of the authors of this work, must be supported by organizational aspects of the classroom context of multi-grade primary schools, and which were adapted to this education, taking into account:
- The grouping of students from different semesters in the same class group, where those with the greatest development are selected to support the rest of the group. Classes, as a fundamental form of the teaching-learning process, are developed through work in duos., trios and unbalanced teams.The main method to be used by teachers is that of independent work, using teaching means that favor the development of the method.Use objectives of each semester that are related and non-significant curricular adaptations.Use the integration of contained in some levels of this education. Plan and evaluate simultaneous activities.
Principles that are assumed: unity between instruction, education, training and development, between the social and individual character, and between the affective and the cognitive
To which are added principles essentially used by teachers of multi-grade primary schools, such as: the principle of multi-integration and the principle of multi-interaction.
Theoretical core of conception:
The guiding ideas define the system of representations that govern the conception, which, from an educational process, uses the potential of teachers and students in the search for variants, methodological alternatives and organizational requirements of the educational process during the development of teaching activities in the Schools of Youth and Adult Education.
Requirements to organize the educational process during the development of teaching activities in schools of Youth and Adult Education:
1- Mastery in the teachers of the contents related to the organization of the educational process during the teaching activities in the centers of Youth and Adult Education.
2.- The leading participation of school mediators to collaborate with the teacher during the development of teaching activities.
1.- The work of the teachers who are in charge of organizing the educational process requires a certain level of updating in relation to specific topics, therefore, the orientation must be specialized and must become the empowering element, demonstrate the lacks that they possess, in a way that leads to awareness for the development and appropriation of knowledge, feelings, experiences, emotions, convictions and values, which allows them to plan, execute and evaluate said process.
Teachers are required to face this moment, have knowledge of the objectives of each grade that are related and non-significant curricular adaptations, functions of a controller to guide the process, characteristics of simultaneous schedules, characteristics of the students, the characteristics and functions of the instruments for the evaluation of teaching activities.
The transformation in the teacher to execute the tasks previously related is achieved if a conception of theory and procedures that includes the preparation process is offered, this research constitutes the essence of the solution path proposed to the problem posed.
The role played by the Head of Department as facilitator or leader of the activities is vitally important in the development of the workshops, to achieve a climate of respect and trust, even in the presence of different points of view, a situation that you should know take advantage to guide teachers towards the balance of its effect through reflection and collective thinking.
The preparation of the teachers will be carried out through their self-preparation, methodological meetings, department groups, based on the planning of the work system schedule, with the suggestion of the different topics to be developed in the workshops that appear below:
Workshop 1. The organization of the educational process in schools of Youth and Adult Education.
Workshop 2. The principle of multi-integration in the curricular didactic plane.
Workshop 3. The principle of multi-interaction.
Workshop 4. Simultaneous schedules in schools.
Workshop 5. Comprehensive mediator students.
Workshop 6. Organizational alternatives during the development of teaching activities.
Workshop 7. Types of relationships established by teachers and students during the development of teaching activities.
2- The protagonist participation of the comprehensive mediator schoolchildren to collaborate with the teacher during the development of the teaching activities.
The necessary mutual understanding, forged in the course of educational work, between teachers and students, exerts a decisive influence on the result of pedagogical work. For this purpose, the help of certain students called integral mediators is necessary.
In the opinion of the authors, they consider that ¨is the one with the highest level of development of the group, who with a preparation directed by the teacher, can collaborate, guide and help in the solution of the tasks, which unites the classmates, through good communication and a favorable affective climate, during the development of teaching activities¨.
This student is characterized by presenting good cognitive results, works as a monitor, is a positive leader and has a certain vocation for pedagogical activity. The main function is to clarify, set goals with the rest of their peers, help them, know the characteristics of the rest of their peers, their needs, demonstrate their self-confidence and abilities, which fosters group cohesion and effort. team up. You must communicate correctly, understand and have the ability to exercise control towards your peers and be accepted.
The preparation of the student mediator is related to the knowledge they receive and the skills demonstrated in overtime, about the subject to be taught, these schedules will be created from the conditions of each educational institution, with the approval of the Board of Directors.
The student labor mediator must fulfill different tasks: help distribute the materials, instruments, raw materials, provide impulses to solve tasks, stimulate their peers before the results, ensure discipline and compliance with safety regulations and help organize the jobs after the activity has finished and possess qualities such as sympathy, loyalty, devotion and a strong desire on the part of the followers to achieve what he wants.
For the selection of the comprehensive mediator students, it is suggested to take into account: the use of the instrument ¨Completion of unfinished sentences¨ to know who identifies with the rest of their fellow students, an observation guide by the teacher, the results of the student survey and the group analysis meeting to report the results and selection.
The preparation of the comprehensive mediator student is related to the knowledge he receives in the curriculum of the subjects, group work, the characteristics of his fellow students, attention to individual differences, the use of teaching aids and simple didactic games.
It is necessary to clarify the advantages offered by the alternatives according to the variants used by the teacher, these are: it allows communicative and knowledge competence in the students, because the presence of students from different semesters at the time of the development of the activities makes that receive the knowledge in a parallel and simultaneous way, develop skills in the same act of classes, being guided by the teacher and carrying out suggested and independent activities, which allows working in cooperative groups with the presence of a student mediator, empowers and facilitates student prominence,It allows to apply an evaluation that enhances the know-how with the acquired knowledge and guarantees the socialization of the class group and allows individualized attention to the extent that the proposed objectives are achieved.
Variants with their organizational alternatives during the development of teaching activities carried out in the centers of Youth and Adult Education.
Variant 1. For the courses of Iletrados and Peasant Workers Education (EOC).
Alternative 1. Group students of different levels in the same classroom during the teaching of a subject.
Illiterate students can participate in the activities during the classes, meetings that the EOC students receive, preferably those of the 1st semester in which directed activities are combined throughout the time of the meeting (the teacher works directly with the students of a semester).), while those from another semester carry out the activities independently from the guidelines given by the teacher, and throughout the meeting they alternate between one semester and the other, both directed and independent activities.
Alternative 2. Group students from different semesters of the same level during the teaching of a subject.
Several semesters of the EOC level are grouped in the same classroom and where the teacher starts from the same motivation and guides the content of the subject to one semester, while students from another semester, guided by the mediator scholar, work with exercises on a sheet Working independently, at the end, the teacher unites the groups and complies with the third phase of the meeting, in which the complexities of teaching activities are adapted according to the levels of development of the students, and in which the most advantaged act as mediators to support the teacher, taking into account the organizational forms of the multigrade primary school.
Alternative 3. Group students from different semesters during group activities on the same content.
The teacher develops collective activities related to the first phase of the meeting for the different semesters on the same content and continues guiding and alternating at different times of the class meeting with different activities for the different semesters, which can be carried out independently by the students and which present different levels of difficulty, according to their development and semester.
Variant 2. For the courses of Secondary School Workers (SOC) and Faculty Obrera Campesina (FOC).
Alternative 1. Bring together students from different semesters of the same level of education at the times of the inter-meetings.
This alternative can be used when there are limitations in the school with the classrooms or the teacher's time fund. During the teaching activities in the spaces of inter-encounters, guided by the teacher and by schoolchildren of higher level of development who act as mediators and thus attend to individual characteristics.
Alternative 2. Group students by semesters in different classrooms.
This alternative is possible when classrooms are available in the school, close to each other, schedules must be adjusted to match them, in this case the teacher guides independent and simultaneous activities in different groups and unites them when there are related topics.
Alternative 3. Group students from different semesters during practical activities with related topics.
Adaptations are made in the programs to match practical activities from different semesters, this is a way to save material resources.
To apply these alternatives, teachers must be prepared on topics related to the organizational forms of the multigrade primary school
To achieve the development of the requirements and alternatives in a consistently achievable and verifiable manner, the requirements are specified, which are expressed as follows:
- Take into account the psycho-pedagogical characteristics of the grouped students. Apply the principles of Pedagogy. Comply with what is established in the study programs. Prepare a flexible schedule where the frequencies of the inter-meetings are located, specifying the groups to join as well as the practical activities.Prepare the teachers. Prepare the mediator scholar. Achieve a favorable climate for the mediator student with the rest of his fellow students so that relationships of mutual respect are given during the moments they are attended to. Apply the principles of multi-integration and multi-interaction.. Assess the disciplinary behavior of the group by the teacher for the selection of alternatives.Determine by the management structure of the educational institution in the Boards of Directors the alternatives to use.
Results.
The application of the procedures and the general conception to evaluate the results within the work development process, constituted a first step of its effectiveness, because it allowed evaluating from qualitative-quantitative positions:
- Awareness of the importance of perfecting the educational process and the need for the unity of those involved for its effectiveness. The contextualization of organizational elements of the classroom context of the multigrade primary schools in the Education of Young People and Adults. and mediator students, which puts them in a position to achieve better results and contributed to the cohesion of the group and stimulated the empathic relationships between the subjects. The potentialities of those involved to influence the organization of the educational process of the schools of the Education of Youth and Adults during the planning, orientation, execution, control and evaluation of teaching activities. Offer a consultation manual for professionals, managers and teachers,with the contents aimed at the preparation of teachers, the diagnosis, selection and preparation of student mediators, with the demands, variants, methodological alternatives and requirements to organize the educational process.
CONCLUSIONS:
The analysis of the theoretical study allows us to base the improvement of the educational process, which contributes to the search for solutions to train teachers and seek reflection, participation, joint effort and the consensus of managers, educators and students to respond to the demands demanded by society.
The information collected through the study of different sources and the findings found in the pedagogical practice using different methods, ensure the need for teacher training in topics related to the educational process and the contextualization of organizational elements of the classroom context of Multigrade primary schools in Youth and Adult Education.
The proposal was elaborated based on the potentialities and insufficiencies that were revealed in the diagnostic stage and the systematization of its foundations, which led to the elaboration of a theoretical-methodological conception from positions of dialectical and historical materialism, which is distinguished for the demands, variants, methodological alternatives and requirements to organize it, starting from the contextualization of organizational forms of the classroom context of the multigrade primary school.
The application of the procedures and the general conception for the evaluation of the results within the process of development of the investigation, is considered effective, because it allowed from quali-quantitative positions, to value the proposal and the transformations of the proceeding of those involved; As well as the meaning of its implications for organizing the educational process, it shows its potential for achieving positive transformations in teachers' work, a statement confirmed during the research.
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