Pedagogical Accompaniment as a Strategy for Teacher Professional Development: An Opportunity to Improve the Quality of Education

Pedagogical support in the classroom is currently a tool that contributes significantly to teachers’ professional development, which has had a boost through the policies of the Chilean Ministry of Education, being a strategy that should be used by management teams and teachers in the learning communities of educational establishments. The objective of the study was to compare the perceptions of managers (principals and heads of the Technical-Pedagogical Unit) and teachers regarding the pedagogical accompaniment and feedback implemented in educational establishments of a private subsidized provider. The non-experimental study was conducted under a quantitative methodological approach, at a descriptive-comparative level and with a cross-sectional design. The sample consisted of 86 principals and 329 teachers from elementary schools and high schools in the region of La Araucanía and Los Ríos. Data collection was by means of a questionnaire of evaluation of the pedagogical accompaniment. The main results showed significant differences in the perceptions of professional competencies (p=.002) and collaborative learning (p=.009) between principals and teachers. This indicates that managers tend to value the development of professional competencies and collaborative learning more positively compared to teachers.