The Role of University Extension Programmes in the Promotion of Pre-K Teachers’ Personal and Professional Transformation: A Reflection

• Autores: Liliana Maria Maturana Patarroyo, Claudia Uribe Hoyos
• Localización: Íkala, ISSN 0123-3432, Vol. 23, Nº. 1, 2018, págs. 161-176
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • University extension has been expected to fill the existing gap between academia and society in order to improve the University and contribute to societal development. Different types of interventions have been sought being professional development programmes an example. However, professional development programmes intended for Pre-K teachers have significantly been scarce in the field of in-service teacher education in Medellín, Antioquia. This paper reflects on a pedagogical experience through a professional development programme as a result of a joint effort amongst Universidad Católica Luis Amigó, a private local enterprise and an office of local government. The Pre-K Teachers’ Professional Development Programme aimed at (re) signifying teaching strategies and developing the English communicative dimension of a group of about 425 pre-k teachers and librarians from different public local schools around the city and its rural areas. Such didactic transformation and language development contributed to the English language to be introduced gradually and naturally in the Pre-K setting. The programme’s inner dynamic and pedagogical interests proved not to be in alignment with the interests and expectations of the office of local government, the enterprise and the University Extension division.