Principals re-constructing their professional performance in elementary education: A participatory contribution within the educational system in Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

The Educational Reform launched in 2013 established, as fundamental, evaluation for the elements within the National Educational System (NES). An important element from NES, it is the Teaching Professional Service (TPS) at the public educational system, which requires solid processes of evaluation focused more on cultural and contextual opportunities and constraints faced by educational professionals in service. In order to foster fairer, useful and feasibility evaluation for educational professionals, the Ministry of Education, through the Center for Educational Evaluation of Yucatan State, developed a Public Consult to identify the main characteristics that professionals within the TPS should develop within their educational practice. The Public Consult included participation from teachers, principals, academic supervisors and pedagogical advisors from elementary education. In this paper, we analyze characteristics that contribute to principals’ performance profile and to pedagogical leadership approach. We analyzed five main dimensions for principals’ performance characteristics: educational policy and pedagogical knowledge, educational praxis, professional development, ethical and identity professional, and community commitment. We consider the Public Consult will support the educational system evaluation mainly focusing on the cultural and pedagogical context of the TPS in Yucatán, in order to contribute to the feedback for characteristics retention (performance) of principals from elementary education.