Valuation and Prestige of the Ecuadorian Teacher from a Student Perspective

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to approach the perception that a group of teachers in training has about some central elements related to the valuation and social prestige of the Ecuadorian teacher, who works in the Basic Education stage in fiscal or public institutions. The study subjects are made up of 157 students, who represent all the students who, during the academic period March-September 2022, were enrolled in their first cycle of Basic Education at the National University of Education (UNAE), located in the province of Cañar, Ecuador. The methodology used has been of a quantitative descriptive nature, through the application of a questionnaire that includes two modules: The first deals with obtaining a general characterization of the student (age, gender, residence, choice of career, motivation and score of admission to the university, etc.) and the second block tries to collect the relationship with their former teachers and educational units, the perception of the value and prestige of the Ecuadorian teacher, their motivational state, training, compensation, role of authority, assessment and process of access to professional practice, estimation of other professions, quality and main problems of the educational system. The main conclusions obtained show a decontextualization or little knowledge of this group of students about the situation of the teacher and the educational system itself, at the same time that the execution of this classroom project has allowed the students an approach and appropriation of the current professional reality.