Training of professional teaching skills for the intervention of children with attention deficit disorder: challenges of the teacher in contemporary inclusive education.

Formación de competencias didácticas profesionales para la intervención de niños con trastorno de déficit de atención: retos del profesor en la educación inclusiva contemporánea

Guerrero Solís, Aliz Karina; Álava Mieles, José Luis; Álava Alcívar, José Luis

Aliz Karina Guerrero Solís

aguerreros@ulvr.edu.ec

Universidad Laica Vicente Rocafuerte de Guayaquil Ecuador

José Luis Álava Mieles

jose.alavam@ug.edu.ec

University of Guayaquil Ecuador

José Luis Álava Alcívar

jluisalava85@gmail.com

Universidad de Guayaquil Ecuador

Sinergias educativas

Universidad de Oriente, México

ISSN-e: 2661-6661

Periodicity: Semestral

vol. 7, no. 2, 2022

compasacademico@icloud.com

Received: 11 June 2021

Accepted: 08 January 2022

URL: http://portal.amelica.org/ameli/journal/382/38231463823146007/

Non-profit publishing model to preserve the academic and open nature of scientific communication

ePub generated from XML JATS4R

Abstract: The objective of this review article is to analyze the theoretical assumptions of professional teacher training from the perspective of didactic competencies, using the heuristic and ethnographic method as a reference through the interpretation, analysis and synthesis of the documentary review. A theoretical approach of the teacher's professional training was carried out, in which the relationship between the pedagogical and didactic elements that must be handled to achieve an inclusive education was established, in this sense, the role of the teacher in the interaction with the student and his role as mediator and guide of the teaching-learning process (PEA,Likewise, active methodologies are analyzed and how to plan the different non-personal components of the PEA, so that the methods maintain the concentration of children with attention deficit disorders. It is concluded that there is still a need for a professional teacher training process that favors didactic competences to achieve an inclusive education and that this is still one of the main challenges in contemporary education.

Keywords: training, competencies, didactics, attention deficit, inclusive education.

Resumen: Se presenta un artículo de revisión que tiene como objetivo analizar los presupuestos teóricos de la formación profesional del docente, desde la perspectiva de las competencias didácticas, para esto, se utilizó como referencia el método heurístico y etnográfico a través de la interpretación, análisis y síntesis de la revisión documental. Se realizó un abordaje teórico de la formación profesional del docente, en el que se establece la relación entre los elementos pedagógicos y didácticos que debe manejar para lograr una educación inclusiva, en este sentido se analizó el rol que cumple en la interacción con el estudiante y su papel de mediador y orientador del proceso de enseñanza – aprendizaje (PEA,) en el que debe principalmente hacer del estudiante un protagonista en su proceso de meta- cognición, Asimismo, se analizan las metodologías activas y como se debe planificar los diferentes componentes no personales del PEA, para que los métodos mantengan la concentración de niños con trastornos de déficit de atención. Se concluye que aún se requiere de un proceso de formación profesional docente que favorezcan las competencias didácticas para lograr una educación inclusiva y que este sigue siendo uno de los retos principales en la educación contemporánea.

Palabras clave: Formación, competencias, didáctica, déficit de atención, educación inclusiva.

Introduction

Teacher preparation focuses on pedagogical success and expertise in new academic skills, which is reflected in the development of students in the classroom, strengthening the development of knowledge that allows us to move forward with solid steps in the face of the different problems that arise in the current system in which we operate. (Turpo-Gebera, 2013)

When referring to teacher preparation, it is not enough to make use of a number of didactic tools to solve academic problems in a classroom, the approach must go a little further, it must be focused on the human being as such, which requires a competent professional, able to identify in the classroom the social difficulties that affect their students and how these are triggering failures of various kinds in the development of their school activities, which prevail in these students and use the means and resources necessary to include them in the classroom in an efficient manner and to ensure comprehensive learning. This is the real challenge of inclusive education today.

For Sepúlveda & Véliz, (2013) the teacher today has understood that his role as a counselor has eradicated the obsolete concept that information is only imparted through lectures, the behaviorist and traditionalist visions have become a thing of the past. It is therefore necessary to go much further. These new changes, reflected in an accelerated pace of lifestyles, as well as the free access to information, have increased the demand for the level of professional didactic competence of teachers, due to the impact of the contemporary world. Therefore, it is necessary to assume these new challenges and levels of competencies towards the use of new technologies and the training of teachers to meet the educational diversity.

Materials and methods

The study of Barros & Turpo, (2017) establishes a quantitative approach, since it works with statistical data, to determine predictions or patterns of behavior of the phenomenon or problem posed, in this case the result of academic performance that is affected by not taking into account the learning styles of students and their study habits. This approach uses data collection to test hypotheses, which it is important to note, have been raised in advance of the methodological process; with a quantitative approach a problem is posed and specific questions from which the hypotheses are derived.

This research is correlational-explanatory in scope, which, as it expresses Pavón & Ferruz, (2010) being explanatory, its interest is focused on explaining why a phenomenon occurs and under what conditions it manifests itself or why two or more variables are related, and correlational because its purpose is to know the relationship or degree of association that exists between two or more concepts, categories or variables in a particular sample or context. Sometimes only the relationship between two variables is analyzed, but frequently links between three, four or more variables are found in the study, in this case with three variables: learning style, study habits and academic performance, which are worked with preset instruments, which are related to each other.

Results

The process of teacher training requires didactic preparation, the author's research shows the limitations in its conception for the attention to school diversity and reveals the need to argue from the use of methods that promote the problematization, inquiry and reflection of the educational reality for the attention of children with attention deficit.

There are limitations that are expressed in the formation of didactic competences to solve professional problems related to the educational attention to school children with learning difficulties, from the budgets of inclusive education. The lack of professionalization of some teachers means that in many cases children with school disorders or school problems are not attended to, which later affects their development.

In short, there is a clear relationship between knowledge of ADHD and the specific training that teachers have received; if teachers have not had specific training on the subject, they also do not know how to deal with the disorder.

Teachers require didactic competencies that allow them to provide different methodological strategies in the classroom, making environmental and methodological adaptations applicable to the whole group, including the behavior of the child with ADHD indicators.

Nowadays, in the XXI century, the teacher has more responsibilities and the current society requires him/her to be prepared as an advisor, mediator, motivator, facilitator and in many cases even as a psychologist. González & Recino, (2015) It is considered necessary to approach the student from the social reality in which he/she is developing. These social factors influence each of the academic processes taught by the teacher. For this reason, the teacher preparation deserves the demands of today's world, in order to offer an educational quality focused on the development of the human being as such, who in the future can solve the vicissitudes that arise in an adequate way.

It is understood that education is the basis for a society to grow actively and dynamically, in reference to this, the epistemic foundations of pedagogy echo those elements related to the academic growth of learners, which seek to enhance the skills and competencies present in students. This binomial between education as an axiological structure and pedagogy as the schooling process where the human being is formed is fundamental as a multidirectional process since its dialectic relationship allows the development of students' competencies in knowledge, standards of conduct, ways of being and their procedural application to the environment and social life of the human being.

In itself, pedagogy is based on knowing how to guide and train the human being. In teacher training, pedagogy refers to personal skills, mastery of various forms of communication, knowledge of the discipline taught, professional skills based on Vygotsky's theory, which is based on the sociocultural learning of each individual. Vygotsky refers that the human being from birth, already brings his natural development line, this line comes into function when the individual interacts with the environment where the mediators that are responsible for guiding the individual to develop their cognitive abilities influence.

Therefore, it is necessary to take into consideration three fundamental aspects so that the didactic process can be carried out successfully: among them are adapting the environment; this refers to the facilities (classroom) where the educational action will be carried out, providing adequate materials to promote meaningful learning; likewise, conditioning the learning environment is necessary to create the necessary conditions for the assimilation of new knowledge, an environment conducive to learning new things and generating the capacity to increase knowledge and finally cultivate the student's learning.

It can be affirmed that the teacher must generate a regenerative and vital vision, which gives the guidelines for new learning proposals that must be in accordance with the changes of the time, in which the knowledge of the material environment, society, the human being as such, is being developed. del Mastro & Monereo, (2014) The responsibility of the methodological part has to do with the capacity to respond to the needs within the classroom, it consists of designing strategies to enhance the educational quality in the different areas of knowledge seeking to achieve the objectives proposed in the teaching-learning process for the students. (Gavilanes et al., 2019)

When referring to methodological strategies, it should be taken into consideration that teaching is not an easy activity and although it seems inherent to human beings, it requires constant preparation to support situations or problems that are very common today in different educational institutions. Therefore, it requires the search for resources that adapt and facilitate the task of teaching and dealing with the diversity of students to work in an integrated, comprehensive and flexible way the curricular content. According to (García et al., 2014) "Learning strategies have been conceptualized as a set of mental operations and procedures of codification, acquisition, retention and evocation it is necessary to implement them, in the classroom it is necessary to make use of different types of strategies since each learner has his own pace of learning." p. 34

In view of the need to improve learning, it is necessary that the teacher makes use of methodological tools that allow to maximize the potential of each of the students, organizing the educational teaching activity that allows to see the methodological strategies through a set of procedures and cognitive, affective and psychomotor resources and therefore achieve that the student is the protagonist of his own learning process, strictly speaking it is the duty to be within the development of the educational process. However, diversified attention is required and it is there where the different didactic resources of the professional teacher allow him to introduce active methodologies.

The personal components of the teaching-learning process allow an interaction where the responsible involvement of the actors in education, achieve the satisfaction and preparation of its actors, the active methodologies are a process led by teachers, but always contextualized in the reality of the environment in which learning takes place.

On the other hand, the non-personal components of the teaching-learning process establish the logical organization of the planning and dosage of the content, which is expressed in objective, content, methods, means, ways of organizing teaching and evaluation. In this sense, the methods refer to the strategies and various methodological procedures used in the classroom, these currently encourage the active participation of the learner in order to develop thinking processes, including brainstorming, concept maps, development of strategies for problem solving, hypothesis formulation, role playing, simulation, project-based learning, case studies, cooperative work and other metacognitive strategies for learning to learn.

It is understood that the main advantages of these active methodologies are the contribution to the innovation of the teaching-learning process, since they are easily integrated with each other and allow the motivation of the student to be the main protagonist of his class, promoting knowledge and autonomous learning through the impulse to research and the use of ICT. These elements require the development of the teacher's competencies, so that classroom activities respond to a conscious and organized process by the teacher and that class incidents respond to the casuistic events of life and not to improvisation due to lack of preparation.

In order to refer to the term teacher competencies, it is necessary to define what a competency is in the educational field. This is a multidimensional term where it is desired to achieve optimal performance in complex and authentic contexts, through the integration of skills, abilities, attitudes and values that are currently necessary to provide meaningful learning that ensures future ability to make decisions correctly. In this sense, the competencies that a teacher has to make use of refer to the set of actions in an environment, where it is essential to use resources such as: cognitive, meta-cognitive, material, social and the use of language and codes with the aspiration of being able in the future to have the ability to solve a problem. Santana et al., (2010) The author states that education is more than acquiring knowledge; rather, it should focus on providing solutions to social problems, integrating knowledge that points towards learning based on competencies. In another sense, it is understood that cognitive and socio-affective skills (learning to know), psychological, sensory and motor skills (learning to do), which allow to adequately carry out a role, a function, an activity or a task, must be the basis of knowledge. Carreño, (2016) Therefore, knowledge must be the product of multidisciplinary and multidimensional contents, which demand a personal action of commitment, within the framework of social interactions where they have and will have their concrete expression.

The teacher who has the ability to prepare a pleasant class in a friendly, fun environment where there is an open dialogue, is the right place for students to acquire knowledge in a satisfactory manner, the pedagogy taught, assertive communication, are definitely essential for a pleasant class. In order to have a dynamic class that generates potentialities, there are resources and tools that contribute to the teaching-learning process such as: use of new technologies, meaningful learning techniques, playful activities and audiovisual material; all these resources and tools are useful when imparting knowledge, even more so in students with attention deficit, they facilitate the teaching process by creating a unique experience in each of the students.

It is necessary to remember that the educational field is in continuous change, which requires teachers to evolve and align themselves with new trends. For this reason, traditional competencies are necessary, but it is necessary to add others that contribute to provide quality education. In these environments are located the didactic competences for the attention to diversity and specifically to the attention deficit.

Attention deficit was detailed for the first time relatively more than a century ago, there are references that children with these symptoms today called TDH. In the year 1902 George Stillli and Alfred Tregold gave the initial descriptions in a rigorous and scientific way, discovered 43 infants who showed serious problems at the moment of paying attention, it was inferred that they could have a deterioration in the control of their attention states and follow the rules of conduct of the other children.

A student affected by this disorder is difficult to have the ability to concentrate adequately to understand the content presented by the teacher, taking into account that sometimes this disorder is accompanied by impulsive behaviors where the optimal development and development of the class is more difficult.

At present, attention deficit is more prevalent in children of different educational institutions when the specific symptoms of ADHD are combined with cognitive deficits involved in the acquisition of the basic instrumental areas of reading and writing, we are talking about an ADHD and a specific learning difficulty.

Nowadays, attention deficit is a disorder that is reflected very frequently in the school context, therefore according to Zunino, (2016) states that "ADHD has been considered as a condition that largely predominated in males with respect to females, but this theory is losing strength as time goes by and it is currently estimated that its prevalence is very similar in both sexes, although it seems that hyperactivity may predominate in males and attention deficit in females "p. 89.

In this sense, the same student may exhibit characteristics of both attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and a specific learning disability, both conditions tend to have similar etiological factors such as hereditary predispositions, prenatal factors, maturational delays. Like ADHD it is a neurobiological disorder which affects the functional structure of the brain centers which are related to control the attentional processes.

Difficulties presented by a child with ADD:

· It is difficult to select a particular focus of attention.

· Presents slowness in motor areas and in the resolution of assigned tasks.

· Distraction is one of the primary factors in this type of disorder.

· Emotional areas are also affected, resulting in low self-esteem and behavioral problems in certain cases.

· The following symptoms can be taken into consideration as a warning measure:

· It is very difficult for them to pay attention to specific details; external stimuli are their main distractor, and for this reason they make continuous mistakes when carrying out an assigned activity.

· When referring to him, he does not seem to hear what is being said, he seems distracted.

· In the organization of tasks or knows how to use time, it is difficult to finish an activity.

· They constantly lose or misplace their materials and are disorganized.

· They easily forget the basic materials for the development of their school activities.

Children with ADD manifest all of these types of symptoms at school and in their families, which significantly affects their academic, personal and social performance.

Discussion

The timely preparation of teachers to deal with attention deficit disorder in the classroom is of utmost importance when treating students with attention deficit disorder and improving their learning.

There are certain significant points to consider when witnessing this disorder in students: first of all, any type of medical problem should be ruled out before inferring that the student has attention deficit, and the support of parents, teachers and the educational institution should be sought when detecting the difficulty. The teacher should seek the help of an expert on the subject to receive the appropriate guidance for this disorder. Take into consideration the affective part of the student and its impact on the development of the learning process and finally express clearly with them, always seeking eye contact.

In the intervention of students with attention deficit, it is necessary to take into consideration the development of activities that generate significant learning in the students, and that these activities fulfill the function of an instrument for the resolution of future problems. A very important role is played by Vygotsky's cultural-historical approach, which mentions the individual as the architect of thought through the social relationship with the environment, developing individual skills and in turn projecting them on the social, human and creative level.

The teacher is the generator of the autonomy of the students, taking into consideration that he/she must know the way of learning of his/her students, through the individual characteristics that they possess, by means of an environment of mutual respect and adequate atmosphere for the development of the learning process, as it is manifested in the constructivist theory.

The appropriate curricular approach for the teaching-learning process with students who are affected with attention deficit has to lead an active process, where he is the protagonist of cognitive growth and is able to act against hypotheses, procedures and development of text comprehension, because it requires to focus their attention and keep active constantly, so that the planning of cognitive strategies should stimulate the ability to develop their own concepts or knowledge through thought. These procedures allow the good development of the child with adequate supervision favored by the teacher.

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