PROFOUND CHALLENGES, LIMITED CERTAINTIES: THE PROFESSIONAL INSERTION OF URUGUAYAN NOVICE TEACHERS IN THE LIGHT OF COMPARATIVE EXPERIENCE

Abstract

This article studies the relationship between higher education and work in the field of the teaching profession, focusing on the transition from initial training to work performance of secondary education teachers in the immediate years after their qualification. The article starts from the situation in Uruguay and develops a comparative view with the region, mainly Argentina and Chile. The questions that guided the research were the following: what is the reality of Uruguayan beginning teachers in the second decade of the 21st century?, to what extent do these teachers feel able to face the multiple challenges of professional insertion?, which are some of the claims regarding training?, what degree of satisfaction do these teachers experience in their teaching activities? The main findings of the study show that beginning teachers in Uruguay consider that they master both the disciplinary content and the teaching strategies, but they think that their initial training did not prepare them to teach in diverse contexts or to handle inclusion in the classroom. This aspect coincides in Uruguay and the region. In turn, beginners understand that initial training did not contribute much to their knowledge on the use of technologies in the classroom. The insertion of new teachers in diverse sociocultural contexts is viewed as a complex problem, given the institutional logic that prevails in the region, which makes their professional adaptation even more difficult.