DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MASTERS DEGREE STUDENTS WITH AND WITHOUT PRIOR TRAINING IN EDUCATION REGARDING THEIR PEDAGOGICAL THINKING PROCESSES

The results of a research in the developed in the Master in Pedagogy of the University of La Sabana (Colombia) are presented. The differences between the trajectories of thought of the students with initial university education in education and students who did not have it at the moment of entering the master degree were looked for, with respect to the apropriation, construction and/or modification of 6 pedagogical concepts (teaching, learning, comprehension, didactics, evaluation and research) from their participation in a Teaching for understanding course in the Master´s program. All this in the context of a more general interest to know how teachers learn and transform their pedagogical practice from their new learning and experiences.

Teacher´s thought processes are a topic of great interest for teacher training programs and pose many challenges, since the transformation of the school, pedagogical innovation and the adaptation of pedagogical processes to the needs of students depend significatly of the teacher´s ability to reflect on their own work and their competence to acquire, rethink and transform their knowledge, skills and attitudes. In this sense, the research sought to derive insights about the tought processes in the apropriation of pedagogical concepts of students in training at the master´s level, wich allows to gather knowledge about the ways in wich teachers think about pedagogical concepts, taking take into account both the theoretical and practical modifications.

The research project resorted to the visibility of the thinking of teachers in training as a strategy to highlight the paths, difficulties, achievments, obstacles and factors associated with the construction of more apropriate, innovative and efficient pedagogical practices. To demostrate the impact of learning, the distinction was made between 35 students of the Masters in Pedagogy of the University La Sabana with previous training in this field, participating in a Teaching course for Understanding (EpC) developed within the framework of mastery, and 15 students without previous training in education.

Differences were found between the two groups of professors in practice, students of master´s degree (with and whitout previous training in education), who help to guide the design of strategies for their training.