Challenges of Teacher Professional Development in multi-teacher Schools in the Canton of Milagro, Guayas Province, Ecuador

Resumen

Rural multi-subject schools continue to be a pillar in ensuring that thousands of children have access to education in Ecuador, but the teachers who work in them continue to face training and working conditions that have not always been addressed. The purpose of this study was to understand the main challenges faced by multi-subject teachers in the Milagro canton in accessing continuing education, a key aspect in sustaining educational quality in these environments. A mixed approach with a descriptive-interpretative design was used, combining a questionnaire administered to 20 rural teachers and interviews with five specialists in education and teacher training. The analysis shows a recurring reality: most teachers have not received specific training to work in multi-grade classrooms and, in addition, face technological, regulatory and time constraints to update their skills, even though they remain highly motivated to improve their practice. Institutional support mechanisms exist, but they do not always function in a sustained manner, so professional development continues to depend on individual effort. In addition, the results highlighted the urgent need for contextualised, accessible and continuous training proposals that are capable of responding to the real dynamics of multi-grade teaching and the particularities of rural Ecuador.