Application of an ethics training program to improve the ethical competence of teachers in a rural educational institution in Colombia

Abstract

Humanity faces a profound crisis in the field of ethics: thus, our children and young people experience disorientation about the correct procedure; For this reason, it is necessary that education promote consistent values for the construction of a better world; In this context, teachers are an essential figure that must be trained in ethical competencies that distinguish them in their actions; That is why the present qualitative, explanatory and quasi-experimental research seeks to evaluate the effects of the application of a 25-hour ethical training program¸ in favoring and improving the ethical dimension of a group of teachers from the Rural Educational Institution San Rafael from the municipality of Calarcá Quindío, located in Colombia. Two groups were selected, one experimental and the other control, consisting of 20 teachers each, from a population of 46 educators. Only the experimental group received the training program. The self-assessment of the ethical dimension, at the end of the program, carried out by the experimental group, instead of increasing with respect to the initial self-assessment, presented a decrease of 35.43%; which, when analyzing the results in detail, shows an internal change of perception in the participants about their way of understanding ethics and the behaviors that derive from it. In general, it is concluded that the contents developed in the program, allowed us to clarify concepts, generate reflection processes and changes of consciousness in the participants, to confront themselves, recognize their own behaviors, detect mistakes, correct them and seek to improve in different aspects of life, as well as begin to apply and disseminate the acquired learning in the classrooms.