Social competences in university teachers

Abstract

espanolEl presente articulo tiene como objetivo reflexionar acerca de las competencias profesionales que los docentes universitarios requieren para responder de forma apropiada a las demandas de la sociedad contemporanea. Se hace una revision documental especializada para fundamentar la tematica y definir teoricamente las categorias de analisis, encontrandose que, por lo general, cuando se alude a las competencias docentes se suele dar prioridad a las disciplinares y pedagogicas, obviando las sociales. No obstante, siendo la ensenanza una practica social colectiva, las relaciones e interacciones entre los individuos son esenciales, de ahi que se concluya que es necesario que los docentes desarrollen competencias sociales para no limitar su actuacion durante el proceso educativo, lo que perjudicaria bastante la formacion plena e integral de sus alumnos. En cuanto a la metodologia, los criterios para la inclusion de la bibliografia se basaron fundamentalmente en la relevancia de las fuentes consultadas en relacion con la tematica tratada (en cuya busqueda se encontro que por lo general las competencias sociales no se abordan cuando se alude a las competencias profesionales del docente universitario) y la perspectiva teorica compartida por los distintos autores citados. No se tuvo en cuenta la actualidad ni el idioma en que se publicaron; no obstante, se incluyeron algunas referencias mas recientes en ingles. EnglishThe objective of this article is to reflect upon the professional competences that university teachers require in order to respond appropriately to the demands of contemporary society. This is a specialized documentary review that seeks to lay a thematic foundation and theoretically define analysis categories. It was found that when the issue of teaching competences is addressed, usually priority is given to disciplinary and pedagogical skills, while social competences are neglected. However, since teaching is a collective social practice, the relationships and interactions between individuals are essential; hence, it is concluded that teachers should develop social competences that will prevent the limitation of their performance during the educational process, a limitation that can severely damage the comprehensive training of their students. Regarding the methodology, the criteria for the inclusion of the bibliography were mainly based on the relevance of the reviewed sources related to the topic under study (the search found that social competences are generally not considered when referring to the professional skills of university teachers) and on the theoretical perspective shared by several cited authors. Their current validation or the language in which they were published were considered, although, some recent studies in English were included.