Concepciones sobre el acompañamiento pedagógico de acompañantes de la región Ucayali: implicancias y aportes de la psicología educacional

This qualitative study reports the conceptions of a group of indigenous pedagogical mentors (four males and one female), who are part of the Educational Program “Logros de Aprendizaje” (PELA) and work at Shipibo-Konibo intercultural bilin-gual schools in native communities of the Ucayali region in Peru. These pedagogi-cal mentors have taught for 15 to 25 years. Using qualitative interviews, the study collects mentors’ conceptions about the mentoring process, and how they perceive and characterize the teachers they work with. Mentors conceive mentoring as a directive process, a process focused on assessment and based on an asymme-tric relationship between them and the teachers. Their perceptions focus mainly on the shortcomings of teachers, highlighting the deficiencies of their initial trai-ning, and the lack of class preparation and planning. Mentors also point out that teachers show rejection towards them and towards the mentoring process. We discuss these results emphasizing the potential contribution of psychology to the mentoring process’ improvement, as well as the role of psycho-pedagogical strate-gies to help achieve successful public policies for mentors’ training.