Competencias profesionales en la educación inicial y su vínculo con la vocación y formación ética

Abstract

Abstract: This research, "Professional Competencies in Early Childhood Education and Their Link to Vocation and Ethical Training," aimed to analyze the relationship between the professional competencies of early childhood educators, their teaching vocation, and their ethical training within the framework of Ecuador's prioritized curriculum, with the purpose of designing an innovative pedagogical proposal. A mixed-methods approach with a non-experimental, descriptive design was used. The 360° Teachers' Questionnaire: Competencies, Vocation, and Ethics was administered to 11 early childhood education teachers from the public and private sectors. The results showed a positive relationship between professional competencies and vocation and ethics, with a p-value of 0.96. Although favorable results were observed in the development of professional competencies, pedagogical innovation, vocation, and ethics, socio-emotional skills stood out the most, at 86.9%. Therefore, the "Happy Little Seeds" pedagogical proposal was designed to enhance logical-mathematical and digital skills through playful, technological, inclusive, and participatory teaching strategies.