Cooperativismo y Desarrollo, January-April 2019; 7(1): 42-53
Translated from the original in Spanish
Economic culture and training of human resources for development at the Cuban university
Cultura económica y formación de los recursos humanos para el desarrollo en la universidad cubana
Ariel Gámez Iglesias1, Mislairis Marisy Alarcón2, Yasmany Ramírez Acosta3
1Facultad de
Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales. Universidad de Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de
Oca". Cuba. Email: ariel.gamez@upr.edu.cu
2Universidad de La Isla de la Juventud
"Jesús Montane Oropesa". Cuba. Email: marici@ijv.edu.cu
3Universidad de La Isla de la Juventud "Jesús Montane Oropesa". Cuba. Email: yasmany.ramirez@estudiantes.upr.edu.cu
Received: January 12th, 2019.
Accepted: January 30th, 2019.
ABSTRACT
The research is aimed at improving the economic culture of higher education teachers, with an emphasis on non-graduate ones with an economic profile, which allows modeling economic content, supported by a system of means and instruments, typical of the training process, that organize and direct the object of study. It is based on a strategy of training that responds to the contents that in matter of economy they need. It was structured in specific actions, where the products, design of a diploma for non-graduated professors of economic careers and its implementation stand out. In order to evaluate the validity of the training strategy to be implemented, the expert criterion method was used from the theoretical and practical point of view; a pedagogical pre experiment, empirical methods such as interview, surveys, document analysis, observation and mathematical-statistical methods were also used. The results obtained reveal the level of preparation of these professionals to direct the formative process, contributing to the strengthening of the formation of a culture of producers and not of consumers in the students who are trained for the successful development of their profession.
Keywords: strategy; economic culture; overcoming; human resources for development.
RESUMEN
La investigación está orientada a la superación en cultura económica de los docentes de la educación superior, haciendo énfasis en los profesores no graduados de carreras de perfil económico, lo que permite modelar contenidos económicos, apoyado por un sistema de medios e instrumentos, propios del proceso de superación, que organizan y direccionan el objeto de estudio. Se basa en una estrategia de superación que responde a los contenidos que en materia de economía necesitan estos. Se estructuró en acciones específicas, donde se destacan como productos: diseño de un diplomado para profesores no graduados de carreras económicas y ejecución del mismo. Con el objetivo de evaluar la validez de la estrategia de superación para implementar en la práctica, se utilizó el método de criterio de expertos desde el punto de vista teórico y práctico, un preexperimento pedagógico, métodos empíricos como la entrevista, encuestas, análisis de documentos, observación y métodos matemático-estadísticos. Los resultados obtenidos revelan el nivel de preparación de estos profesionales para dirigir el proceso formativo, contribuyendo al fortalecimiento de la formación de una cultura de productores y no de consumidores en los estudiantes que se forman para el desarrollo exitoso de su profesión.
Palabras clave: estrategia; cultura económica; superación; recursos humanos para el desarrollo.
INTRODUCTION
The people of Cuba have fought numerous battles throughout its history, which are proof of the level achieved in the formation of a Comprehensive General Culture and especially of how political consciousness has solidified. The above-mentioned achievements are sustained by the educational work carried out under the leadership of the Communist Party of Cuba by all the organizations and bodies of society, including the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education.
In the current conditions of a world in economic crisis, it seems a great contradiction that such victories are obtained in the field of ideas, by a high development of political consciousness, and at the same time negative elements are manifested in the economic order that range from errors and deviations to corruption and crime. But this is a product of the fact that social consciousness is not composed only of political, juridical, ethical, ideological consciousness, etc.; it is also economic consciousness and, above all, its dialectical relationship with the other integral forms of social consciousness. This criterion is asserted by Gámez (2013, p. 51).
It is important to point out that the economic culture of socialist society has a qualitative content different from that of previous societies, because it is based on the predominance of social property over the fundamental means of production, on work as the main source in the generation of wealth and on the well-being of citizens from a different ethic, where the satisfaction of material and spiritual needs is centered on the human being. Economic culture must explain why what is done and how it is done. Only from this conception is it possible to convert into culture, from the economy, the individual behavior; that is to say, to achieve the efficiency as part of the daily act and the effectiveness as real instrument in the taking of decisions, to solve the problems with effectiveness and to elevate the conditions of life of the society.
In the VI and VII congresses of the PCC the necessity to develop the economic culture in all the members of our society was raised, reason why after an analysis of this problematic one could verify, from the development of different types of visits, regularities such as:
The great challenge facing the Social Sciences in general is to discover the essential in the complexity of processes that are different, contradictory, continuous, discontinuous and at the same time globalizing; to project a better future from the multiple social interactions, as well as to promote horizons of more just, solidary and ecologically sustainable expectations (Gámez, 2013).
This complex situation reaffirms the importance of the economic culture of the directors of the education sector, teachers and professionals in training, as a fundamental element in dealing with acts of corruption, crime and illegalities.
These problems lead us to propose as an objective of the present study: to evaluate the validity of the overcoming strategy elaborated for the appropriation of the economic culture in the non-economical teachers of the University of Pinar del Río.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The research carried out has a dialectical-materialistic foundation as a general method. It was used throughout the process by operating with categories, laws and principles as essential tools for analysis, which allowed to reveal existing relationships, according to the subject under investigation. Research methods were used at the theoretical, empirical and statistical-mathematical levels.
Within the methods of the theoretical level are the historical-logical, which revealed the essential relations existing in the object of investigation, used in the elaboration of the proposal; analysis and synthesis; induction-deduction and systemic-structural, with which the process of overcoming in the economic culture of the teachers can be based, to later arrive at the strategy of overcoming the pedagogical collective and its implementation in the University of Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca".
Empirical methods are also used, such as: observation of the teaching-educational process; revision of documents, such as curricula, surveys and interviews with directors, professors and students of the University of Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca".
In the theoretical validation of the strategy the method of expert criteria, Delphi method, was applied, and in practice a pedagogical pre-experiment.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
It is necessary to contribute to the consolidation of good practices, contributed by the strategy of overcoming economic culture for teachers who are not specialists in economics for its implementation in the University of Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca", in reference to the formation of human resources for development and their role in the treatment of the curricular strategy for the formation of economic culture from the classroom, in function of participatory processes and dynamics; where young university students participate and benefit as a priority.
Hence the importance of strengthening economic culture and its role within the framework of updating the Cuban economic and socialist management model. These professionals are charged by the State with training human resources for the development of the province. In this way, the implementation of this strategy contributes to the economic culture of teachers who are not specialists in economics.
For the purposes of the research, the strategy presented is structured in stages that reveal that there are still previous inadequacies in the training of human resources for development. However, the proposal is neither unique nor complete. On the contrary, it is susceptible to enrichment and modification, based on the changes that take place in the object of transformation.
Treatment of economic culture in the university context
One of the most important challenges facing teachers today is the development of economic culture, in order to contribute to the solution of the problems generated in this sphere as a result of the systemic structural crisis, which coincides with the economic, financial, energy, food and environmental crisis facing the world today, with a greater impact on underdeveloped countries (Gámez, 2013).
According to UNESCO, culture is understood as "the set of distinctive spiritual and material, intellectual and affective features of a society or social group. It includes not only the arts and letters, but also ways of life, human rights, values, traditions and beliefs" (UNESCO, 1994).
Economic culture is understood as the complex system of social interactions that are established in the process of production of material goods and services in a certain historical context that transcends all human activity, is revealed through knowledge, modes of action, economic awareness, includes the skills and abilities acquired in the process of human development and enrichment and is expressed in the creation and conservation of material values, in close relationship with ethical-economic and spiritual values in general (Cabrera, 2006).
The process of strengthening the economic culture of students must be organized in such a way as to respond to the dizzying development that the world's sciences have achieved and that university graduates require; to adopt an attitude that allows them to renew the knowledge in the science they work with (Gámez, 2013).
On November 23, 2005, Fidel Castro said: "There is a need for an economic culture among the people, there is no economic culture in our country: people do not know where the money comes from; it is not understood that an increase in salary without a counterpart in goods and services would be worth nothing (...) Many of our cadres do not have an economic culture either (Castro Ruz, 2005).
Among the multiple occupations faced by principals and teachers, there is increasing evidence of calls to contribute strategies that make possible to provide solutions, from the school, to diverse problems of diverse nature faced by society, among which the existence of a current systemic structural crisis stands out, with the simultaneity of the economic, financial, energy, food and environmental crises; with greater impact in underdeveloped countries (PCC, 2011).
Hence, the key concepts to strengthen in students as a basis for the development of a responsible economic attitude are (Ruiz, 2013):
Strategy as a result of research work
The bibliographic studies developed show that the use of strategies to implement theoretical results is not completely exhausted. Since the end of the last century, and with greater emphasis at the beginning of this century, research has been developed in which, directly or indirectly, the relationship of the university with the working environment is addressed, through a strategy. Due to the connotation it has for the research, an analysis will be made of some works that are considered basic in the study of this process (Castaño de Armas, Mena Lorenzo, & Díaz Cabrera, 2018).
Lorenzo (2014) proposes a strategy to promote the development by stages of the investigative-labor skills in the professionals in formation of the career of Bachelor in Accounting and Finances of the University of Pinar del Río, which taxes in a direct way to the formation of the human resources for the development in the Cuban university.
Other authors such as Ruiz (2013) and Díaz (2014) corroborate this, allowing the organization of the strategy in stages, whose essence is materialized through the methodological steps proposed by De Armas and Valle Lima (2011). In this way it is structured according to:
I. Introduction. It explains the fundamentals of the strategy.
II. Diagnosis. It is based on the application of techniques to identify existing weaknesses and strengths during the implementation and structuring of the strategy, taking into account the criteria of social actors and agencies.
III. General objective. Its proposal is directed to the development of the overcoming in economic culture of the teachers not specialists in economy of the University of Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca".
IV. Specific Actions. They are oriented to the development of the process of improvement in economic culture for teachers, with emphasis on actions and sequenced operations, which translates into political and ideological commitment and the direction of the formative process.
V. Evaluation of the strategy. The development of the process of improvement in economic culture is evaluated according to the variables and indicators identified in the research.
They are assumed as fundamental organizational forms: a diploma, workshops, self-improvement; these are integrated and combined with a scientific symposium, as well as the seminar of preparation to the pedagogical collective.
Structure of the strategy to improve the economic culture of teachers in order to dynamize the training of human resources for development.
The previous opinions have served as a basis for interpreting the strategy of overcoming economic culture "as the conception for the individual transformation of human resources which, as a result of the updating of the contents, methods and values of science, conceives the development of a system of improvement actions from the theoretical-practical experience of the teacher in the matter of economic culture in order to achieve the transformation of modes of action by taking into account the new demands of the Cuban school" (Gámez, 2013).
Other authors consider that the strategy allows them to take maximum advantage of their possibilities of learning from human resources (Castaño de Armas et al., 2018).
Each of the elements that structure the overcoming strategy is discussed below.
I. Introduction
The strategy presented and its actions are based on the following elements:
II. Diagnosis for strategy instrumentation:
They are needed as strengths:
Among the main weaknesses are needed:
The opinions of the interviewees make it possible to consider the following as elements to be taken into account in structuring the strategy:
III. General objective: to implement in educational practice the strategy elaborated, based on actions and operations of improvement in economic culture for non-specialist teachers in Pinar del Río, in such a way as to propitiate an adequate political and ideological commitment and a direction of the formative process in accordance with social demands and with them the formation of human resources for development.
IV. Specific actions
IV.1. General objectives of the specific actions
1. Diploma course in Economic Culture for teachers who are not specialists in Economics
Objective: to train, in economic culture, teachers in their close link with the transformations of the Cuban economic management model, endowing them with scientifically based knowledge so that they assume the transforming role that corresponds to them in training.
2. Workshops
Objective: systematize the training in economic culture, starting from the proposal of workshops that promote its improvement, for the sake of participation and critical and reflective debate.
3. Self-improvement
Objective: systematize contents that, in the matter of the economic culture, are developed in the diploma course and in the workshops, from the proposal of a textbook that enhances its treatment.
4. Scientific Symposium
Objective: to systematize the dominion of the economic culture, from the proposal of a scientific symposium directed to promote its development from the socialization of experiences in the solution of professional problems, by means of the scientific-technical, methodological and practical exchange.
5. Seminar of preparation for the pedagogical group of the Department of Economics
Objective: to train the pedagogical group of the Department of Global Economy of the Faculty of Economics and Business, in the theoretical foundations of the process of overcoming teachers, for the implementation of specific actions.
IV.2. Operations and indicators for each of the specific actions (see table)
Table - Operations and indicators for each of the specific actions
Specific Action |
Operations |
Indicators |
I. Development of the process of upgrading in economic culture for teachers through the Diploma in Economic Culture for teachers who are not specialists in Economics. |
I.1- To design the Diploma in Economic Culture for teachers who are not specialists in Economics, so that they can appropriate the contents of economic culture. |
- Level of preparation of the teachers in the process of upgrading in economic culture. |
II. Development of the process of upgrading by means of workshops. |
II.1- Designing Workshops for the upgrading of teachers' economic culture. |
- Level of preparation in economic culture of teachers. |
III. Development of self-upgrading as part of teachers' economic culture. |
III.1- To design a program of self-upgrading, the improvement of teachers' economic culture. |
- Participants' level of preparation in terms of economic culture. |
IV. Development of the process of upgrading through the Scientific Symposium. |
IV.1- To design the program of the Scientific Symposium, in order to deal with the teachers upgrading in the economic culture. |
- Level of satisfaction of those involved with the self-upgrading program and the book presented. |
V. Development of the process of upgrading economic culture through the implementation of a preparation seminar for the teaching staff of the Global Economy department. |
V.1- To design a preparation seminar for the teaching staff of the Economics department. |
- Level of satisfaction of the teaching staff of the Economics Department. |
V. Evaluation of the strategy
The evaluation of the coping strategy is conceived on the basis of the analysis of the results of the implementation of each of the specific actions, for the development of the process under study. This will be done on the basis of the performance of the indicators identified for each of the specific actions.
In order to evaluate the presence of the indicators, a scale has been used that establishes the consideration of: Low, Medium, High, according to the values obtained:
Low: if there is presence of the indicators identified for each specific action, less than 60% of the sample.
Medium: Presence of the indicators identified for each specific action between 60-85 % of the sample.
High: Presence of the indicators identified for each specific action, higher than 85% of the sample.
The indicators used are:
During the pre-experimental stage, after its application it was concluded, the level of satisfaction of the teachers with the improvement received through a survey was explored, reaching the following results.
The highest levels of satisfaction were in the issues related to:
The 85.5 % of the teachers surveyed considered the contents addressed in the improvement received to be very useful and 20.5 % considered them to be useful. It should be noted that a higher level of usefulness is obtained by subjects related to the Financial Administration of the State and Internal Control and the curricular output from the contents of the curriculum of the careers involved in the research process.
Teachers consider that, of the forms of improvement received, the one that contributed most to their theoretical and methodological preparation was the diploma in economic culture for teachers who are not specialists in economics, which was manifested in 90.0% of the cases, followed by the workshops with 20.5%.
Regarding the most achieved level of improvement, 35.5% of teachers consider that it was in the theoretical level, 31.5% in the methodological level and 48.6% in the theoretical-methodological level.
One of the purposes of the applied survey was to value the opinion of teachers on the book Business Economics. Theory and Practice, which was given to him for his self-improvement, obtaining as a result that 100% consider it useful and necessary, while 80.6% express that it is affordable.
Among the arguments that stand out the most when investigating how the improvement received has impacted on their teaching work are found:
REFERENCES
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Castaño de Armas, R., Mena Lorenzo, J. L., & Díaz Cabrera, J. C. (2018). Estrategia para implementar la enseñanza de la Contabilidad desde una Cooperativa Agropecuaria. Revista Digital Cooperativismo y Desarrollo, 6(2), 241-256. Recuperado a partir de http://coodes.upr.edu.cu/index.php/coodes/article/view/197/368
Castro Ruz, F. (2005). Intervención en la Mesa Redonda de la TV cubana. 23 de noviembre del 2005. Periódico Granma, p. 3.
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Díaz, J. C. (2014). La superación de los docentes que imparten Informática Aplicada a la Contabilidad. Una vía para mejorar el desempeño profesional pedagógico en la Educación Técnica y Profesional. Revista IPLAC, 12(20).
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