Critical training incidents: evidence of teacher pedagogical loneliness in vulnerable contexts

Abstract

Critical incidents are formative experiences of identity and teacher professionalization. In this study we proposed to determine the ability to address critical incidents among expert and novice teachers; and describe the progress of the school coexistence. The study was ex post facto with a longitudinal section (four stages). The sample consisted of 102 primary school teachers from three vulnerable contexts in Lima. We named the sample by its roles: 1) head of practice and 2) role of practitioner. We use guidelines, rubrics and evaluation scales as instruments. We conclude that the practice heads who experienced critical incidents adapted better to living together from the beginning of the study, unlike the practitioners, who adapted in the later stages of the research. The category teaching loneliness or pedagogical loneliness was identified, according to the concepts that the participants formulated. We attribute this to the lack of monitoring of the practitioners by professionals outside the schools in which they practice their training. These evidences show that the critical incident introduces to the school practice, the self-formative method of the identity and teacher consciousness, through urgent reflection, one that translates the teacher's weaknesses into their strengths.