Research skills developed in postgraduate studies and their influence on teaching

Abstract

Study whose purpose was to know the perception of teachers who graduated from a postgraduate course with an emphasis on research, about the research skills developed during the construction of their thesis and how it has influenced their teaching practice. The phenomenological method was used and interviews and focus groups were applied to 45 postgraduate teachers. The results show that teachers developed greater capacity to identify problems within their context based on systematic methodological routes; They also show greater use of theory to understand the phenomena that occur in the classroom. However, they affirm that research as a formal and systematic process is not carried out. The teaching staff said they were aware of the importance of research and that, in some way, they use skills related to it within their practices, but there is no registration, dissemination or monitoring, rather they are concrete and sometimes isolated actions, to respond. to emerging situations. It is concluded that, within training and updating spaces such as universities, it is necessary to strengthen a culture of research and to see this, not as a product to obtain the degree, but as a means to improve educational quality.