ESPOCH Congresses (Nov 2023)
Challenges in the Teaching Profession: A Look at Current Realities
Abstract
Abstract The teacher personifies in himself a core edge in the entire educational framework, even when his work may go unnoticed, misunderstood, or undervalued. On him falls the inescapable responsibility of training in aspects, such as the scientific; but also the human, in order to progressively build a better society. Despite this, this profession involves a myriad of speculations and myths that distort the perception of the teacher's work, condescending conjectures that little or nothing are adapted to the reality involved in practice. In this regard, this research aims to delve into and reveal the most significant realities that circumscribe the teaching profession, as an activity that goes beyond just teaching in classrooms. Teaching has endless activities, challenges, complexities, and realities that cannot be superimposed only with the staging that allows the transfer of knowledge. Thus, the study was approached under a qualitative-non-interactive methodological approach, with an exploratory scope and documentary research design. From this perspective, taking into account references related to the subject and conversations with teachers from different educational institutions in Latin American countries, eight premises were identified and discussed as realities of the teaching profession: Teaching profession and social recognition, Erosion of the positive perception of the profession, values vs. society, teaching and the media, precarious salaries, stress and work overload, decreasing role of the teacher, and silence of the teachers. The present investigation concluded, among other things, that there is a need to know in depth the specific elements that surround the realities of the teaching profession, thus avoiding the generation of epistemological conceptions that distort the appreciations of this job. In addition, it is important to highlight that the contribution of this research lies in explicitly collecting the realities of the teaching profession; making the caveat that until now no study with these characteristics have been found in the scientific literature. La actividad minera en el Ecuador es principalmente artesanal y de pequeña escala. Los ríos cercanos al área minera de Camilo Ponce Enríquez se han visto severamente afectados por este tipo de minería. Se realizó un estudio de campo en 29 sitios sobre los ríos Siete, Fermín y Pagua durante campañas de muestreo que se realizaron tanto en la época seca (diciembre) como en época húmeda (febrero). Se midieron parámetros fisicoquímicos y concentraciones de metales pesados para permitir la caracterización ambiental de los ríos. Los resultados revelaron que la mayoría de los sitios muestreados tienen agua de mala calidad y excedieron los límites ambientales de concentración de metales pesados establecidos por el gobierno ecuatoriano. También se realizó una investigación piloto paralela destinada a reducir las concentraciones de metales pesados en ecosistemas acuáticos contaminados por actividades mineras utilizando técnicas de biorremediación. La técnica de biorremediación aplicada en el estudio utilizó bacterias de un digestor de aguas residuales y bagazo de caña de azúcar como fuente de carbono para apoyar a la comunidad bacteriana. Se midió el sulfuro para controlar la actividad bacteriana en biorreactores experimentales que contenían drenaje ácido minero (AMD) local. Los resultados obtenidos son alentadores ya que en un conjunto de biorreactores se observó una disminución significativa de las concentraciones de algunos metales pesados alcanzando casi en su mayoría el nivel permisible según las regulaciones ambientales ecuatorianas para las concentraciones de Al, Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb y Zn en agua dulce.
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