The evaluation of lifelong learning. A study on training activities developed by the Ministry of Education of Cordoba, Argentina

Abstract

This reflection paper presents a set of notions and analysis on the value of assessment in the construction of knowledge about training policies and teacher professional development. To do this, an evaluation study of the actions of continuous teacher training conducted by a team of the Sub secretary of Education of Quality and Educational Equality of the Ministry of Education of the province of Córdoba-Argentina is described. It aims to note the information about the assessments and perceptions that the participants of the training activities show about professional development offerings provided by the Ministry during the period 2010-2012.
The assessment is conceived in the studies not only as a control tool but mainly in its epistemic and ethical dimension. The methodological strategy foresaw the combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. Written stories, self-administered questionnaires and group interviews were used as instruments. The results allow to identify a set of features highlighted by participants as significant in their formative experiences in those actions of professional development that were contemplated: exchanges and dialogue with peers, explicit reference to the practice itself, anchoring the proposal on the institutional scale professor/collaborative work, synergy with the needs and problems of the institution, level and / or region in which the professor plays his role.