Competencias profesionales en la Educación Inicial y su vínculo con la vocación y la formación ética

Abstract

Abstract: Professional competencies, a vocation for teaching, and ethical training constitute a set of fundamental qualities for the development of early childhood education. Consequently, this research aims to analyze the relationship between professional competencies, teaching vocation, and ethics in early childhood education, in order to support an innovative pedagogical proposal. A mixed-methods approach with a descriptive-analytical design was employed, involving a questionnaire administered to 10 teachers from public institutions. Key findings include a positive correlation across all evaluated dimensions (rho = 0.642), with communication skills (85.07%) and socio-emotional skills (80.38%) ranking highest, while logical-mathematical skills showed the lowest level (75.20%). The results also indicate that a teaching vocation can be developed through practice, although some resistance to collaborative work persists. Among the main conclusions, it is noted that technical competencies, vocation, and ethics form an essential triad for educational quality. The "Magic Apron" ("Mandil Mágico") proposal emerges as a low-cost, hybrid resource designed to strengthen areas in need of improvement, demonstrating that innovation is viable when it combines pedagogical rigor with human sensitivity.