ABSTRACT
Pre-professional practicum is a structural component of initial teacher
education because it articulates university knowledge with the situated
complexity of classrooms, school culture, and the ethical demands of the
teaching profession. In Latin America, this link is especially relevant due to
persistent gaps in educational quality, equity, and pertinence that require
teachers capable of planning, mediating, assessing, researching, and critically
reflecting on their own pedagogical intervention. This article aimed to
critically analyze the relationship between pre-professional practicum and the
development of pedagogical performance in university students enrolled in
teacher education programs, within the context of Latin American higher
education. Methodologically, a documentary literature review was carried out
with emphasis on scientific literature published during the last five years,
prioritizing indexed articles, empirical studies, systematic reviews, academic
books, reports from international organizations, and verifiable institutional
documents. The findings suggest that the relationship between practicum and
pedagogical performance is neither automatic nor merely cumulative, but depends
on the quality of tutorial support, curricular coherence between universities
and schools, opportunities for collaborative reflection, formative assessment,
situated research, and institutional conditions that enable professional
learning. It is concluded that pre-professional practicum strengthens
pedagogical performance when it is no longer conceived as an administrative
requirement and is structured as an integral, reflective, and contextualized
formative device.
RESUMEN
Las prácticas
preprofesionales constituyen un componente estructural de la formación inicial
docente porque permiten articular los saberes universitarios con la complejidad
situada del aula, la cultura escolar y las demandas éticas de la profesión. En
América Latina, este vínculo adquiere especial relevancia debido a las
persistentes brechas de calidad, equidad y pertinencia que atraviesan los
sistemas educativos y que exigen docentes capaces de planificar, mediar,
evaluar, investigar y reflexionar críticamente sobre su propia intervención
pedagógica. El presente artículo tuvo como objetivo analizar críticamente la
relación entre las prácticas preprofesionales y el desarrollo del desempeño
pedagógico en estudiantes universitarios de formación docente, en el contexto
de la educación superior latinoamericana. Metodológicamente, se desarrolló una
revisión bibliográfica documental con énfasis en literatura científica
publicada durante los últimos cinco años, priorizando artículos indexados,
estudios empíricos, revisiones sistemáticas, libros académicos, informes de
organismos internacionales y documentos institucionales verificables. Los
hallazgos permiten sostener que la relación entre práctica preprofesional y
desempeño pedagógico no es automática ni meramente acumulativa, sino que
depende de la calidad del acompañamiento tutorial, la coherencia curricular
entre universidad y escuela, la disponibilidad de espacios de reflexión
colaborativa, la evaluación formativa, la investigación situada y las
condiciones institucionales que posibilitan el aprendizaje profesional. Se
concluye que las prácticas preprofesionales fortalecen el desempeño pedagógico
cuando dejan de concebirse como requisito administrativo y se estructuran como
dispositivos formativos integrales, reflexivos y contextualizados.
Keywords /
Palabras clave
pre-professional practicum; pedagogical performance;
teacher education; higher education; Latin America
prácticas
preprofesionales; desempeño pedagógico; formación docente; educación superior;
América Latina.
Introduction
Initial
teacher education has become a strategic issue for Latin American higher
education because the ability to address school systems marked by persistent
inequalities, rapid sociocultural changes, demands for inclusion, the expansion
of digital technologies, and the need to improve learning in line with
principles of educational justice depends largely on it. Recent reports on the
regional educational situation indicate that the quality of learning continues
to be shaped by socioeconomic gaps, unequal access to resources, and
institutional weaknesses that affect students and school communities in
different ways; Consequently, teacher education cannot be limited to the
transmission of subject-specific content but must develop pedagogical skills to
interpret contexts, make informed instructional decisions, and sustain relevant
teaching processes (Arias Ortiz et al., 2024; UNESCO IESALC, 2024).
In this context,
pre-professional practicums take on decisive importance because they constitute
the space where the university student in teacher education confronts their
academic knowledge with the situated reality of the school, observes
institutional dynamics, interacts with real students, recognizes classroom
heterogeneity, and experiences the challenges of planning, pedagogical
mediation, assessment, managing classroom dynamics, and communicating with
educational stakeholders. Recent literature agrees that pedagogical practice
should not be conceived as a terminal or complementary stage of the curriculum,
but rather as a central pillar of teacher professionalization, insofar as it
facilitates the transition from declarative knowledge to reflective, ethical,
adaptive, and investigative pedagogical performance (Müller & Gaete, 2024;
Saldaña Gómez & González González, 2022; Tacuri
Albarracín & Vega Alonso, 2024).
The relationship between
pre-professional practice and pedagogical performance, however, requires
critical examination. A superficial approach might suggest that all practice in
educational institutions automatically produces better teachers, but contemporary
studies show that the formative effect of practice depends on the conditions
under which it is organized, supported, and evaluated. Field experiences can
strengthen competencies when they link theory and practice, provide systematic
feedback, promote collaborative reflection, and are integrated into a coherent
curriculum; but they can also reproduce uncritical routines, institutional
fragmentation, or limited learning when they are carried out merely to fulfill
required hours, with little tutorial guidance or without clear criteria for
professional performance (Fajardo-Pacheco et al., 2025; Flores Gómez et al.,
2023; Ullauri-Ullauri & Mauri-Majós, 2022).
In Latin America, the
discussion on pre-professional practicums in higher education programs has
gained prominence due to the need to bridge the historical gap between
universities and schools. Research conducted in Ecuador, Chile, Mexico,
Colombia, and other countries in the region shows that the quality of
professional learning is shaped by the interaction among student practicum
participants, academic mentors, collaborating teachers, school administrators,
and educational communities, making the practicum a social and institutional
construct rather than an individual student activity (Flores Gómez et al.,
2023; Rodríguez Lozano et al., 2024; Saldaña Gómez & González González, 2022). This perspective helps us understand that
pedagogical performance does not emerge solely from personal vocation or the
accumulation of university courses, but rather from situated formative
experiences that transform the way teaching is understood.
For the purposes of this
analysis, pedagogical performance is understood as a complex configuration of knowledge,
skills, dispositions, ethical criteria, and reflective capacities that enable
the future teacher to design learning experiences, facilitate processes of
understanding, manage classroom diversity, assess with a formative focus, adapt
strategies to unforeseen situations, and justify their pedagogical decisions.
This understanding goes beyond the instrumental notion of “knowing how to
teach” and approaches an integrated, situated, and progressive professional
competence. From this perspective, pre-professional practice can be considered
a privileged mechanism for the development of pedagogical performance, provided
that it is not reduced to passive observation or the mechanical execution of
prescribed tasks, but rather oriented toward the problematization of
educational reality and the reflective construction of professional judgment
(González Beade et al., 2023; Hoyos Doria &
Pacheco Tamayo, 2025; OECD, 2025).
The objective of this
article is to critically analyze the relationship between pre-professional
practicums and the development of pedagogical performance among university
students in teacher education, considering the context of Latin American higher
education and recent scholarly literature. The relevance of the study lies in
its ability to identify conditions, mediating factors, and tensions that
influence the educational effectiveness of these practices, as well as to
provide an academic interpretation of the institutional challenges universities
face in consolidating practice models consistent with the current demands of
the teaching profession.
Material and Methods
This
article was developed through a critical and interpretive literature review
aimed at analyzing recent scholarly work on pre-professional practices, initial
teacher education, and pedagogical performance in higher education. This
approach is relevant because the purpose was not to empirically measure a
statistical relationship in a specific population, but rather to systematize,
compare, and discuss the conceptual, methodological, and institutional
contributions of the current literature to construct a reasoned understanding
of the phenomenon. The review was organized according to criteria of thematic
relevance, recency, academic traceability, and regional relevance, with
priority given to studies published within the last five years.
The literature search
considered scientific and institutional literature primarily from 2021 to 2026,
with an emphasis on articles indexed in academic journals, systematic reviews,
empirical studies with qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approaches,
specialized chapters and books, as well as technical reports from international
organizations related to higher education, teacher education, and educational
quality in Latin America. Priority was given to sources that explicitly
addressed pre-professional practices, practicums, teaching practice, academic
tutoring, the collaborating teacher, reflection on practice, formative
research, and the development of competencies or pedagogical performance in
students in teacher training programs. Policy documents and regional analyses
that helped contextualize the challenges of Latin American higher education and
teacher professionalization were also considered (Arias Ortiz et al., 2024;
OECD, 2025; UNESCO, 2026; UNESCO IESALC, 2024).
The analysis followed a
documentary-hermeneutic approach focused on identifying recurring thematic
clusters, conceptual tensions, and institutional conditions associated with the
relationship between pre-professional practice and pedagogical performance. In
particular, the review examined studies on the perceptions of educational
stakeholders, correlational research on competencies and practices, systematic
reviews of pedagogical work practices, studies on tutoring and mentoring,
research on collaborative reflection, and regional documents on teacher
education. The texts were interpreted through critical reading, conceptual
comparison, and argumentative synthesis, seeking to distinguish between
empirical evidence, normative prescriptions, and theoretical assumptions.
The review was not designed
as a systematic review following the PRISMA protocol, as its purpose was not to
quantify the bibliographic output or estimate aggregate effects, but rather to
construct a well-founded academic analysis of the mediating factors that
explain how and under what conditions pre-professional practices contribute to
the development of pedagogical performance. Nevertheless, criteria of
documentary rigor were maintained: selection of verifiable sources,
correspondence between citations and references, use of recent literature, and
a predominance of relevant academic publications. The sources were
cross-checked to avoid a merely descriptive reading and to promote a critical
interpretation of the problem.
Results
Recent
literature agrees that pre-professional practice constitutes one of the most
significant components of initial teacher education because it allows
university students to transition from an abstract understanding of pedagogy to
a situated experience of teaching. This transition should not be interpreted as
a simple application of theory in an external setting, but rather as a process
of reconstructing professional knowledge under real conditions of pedagogical
interaction. In this sense, practicum does not function solely as a setting for
observation, but as a formative mechanism where disciplinary, didactic,
curricular, ethical, and contextual knowledge are linked, and where students
begin to develop criteria for professional practice (Pacheco Armijos et al.,
2021; Saldaña Gómez & González González, 2022).
Regional evidence shows
that pre-professional practicums are strengthened when they are conceived as a
structural part of the curriculum and not as an administrative requirement
placed at the end of the university track. Saldaña Gómez and González González (2022) argue that pedagogical practice in higher
education involves a network of actors who contribute to the educational
process from distinct roles, which demonstrates that professional learning
occurs within a relational framework. This perspective is relevant because it
shifts the individualistic idea that the student “learns to teach” through
direct exposure to the classroom and emphasizes that the quality of learning
depends on institutional, academic, and school mediations.
The relationship between
practicums and pedagogical performance is expressed, first and foremost, in the
possibility of transforming knowledge acquired at the university into situated
pedagogical decisions. During the practicum, the future teacher faces situations
that require intentional planning, selecting relevant teaching strategies,
adapting activities to varying paces, interpreting student responses, and
sustaining appropriate communicative interactions. This experience challenges
theoretical training because it forces one to recognize that teaching is not a
linear sequence of techniques, but a professional practice characterized by
uncertainty, diversity, and real-time decision-making. Therefore, pedagogical
performance develops when the student succeeds in linking pedagogical
principles with contextual analysis and reflective action (Müller & Gaete,
2024; Reiban et al., 2024).
In the Latin American
context, this integration is particularly relevant due to the social, cultural,
and territorial diversity of the schools where practicums take place. Teacher
education cannot be limited to universal models of planning or intervention,
because the Latin American classroom often reflects socioeconomic inequalities,
technological gaps, linguistic heterogeneity, demands for inclusion, and
diverse institutional conditions. Hence, pre-professional practice must enable
students to understand teaching as a situated activity rather than as the
homogeneous reproduction of models. On this point, the regional literature on
teacher education emphasizes that professionalization requires progressive
engagement with real-world problems, formative support, and the capacity to
reflect on one’s own practice (Rodríguez Lozano et al., 2024; UNESCO, 2026).
Pedagogical Performance and
the Development of Professional Competencies in Teacher Education
The pedagogical performance
of teacher education students can be understood as the progressive result of
professional competencies expressed in action. Recent literature has linked
pre-professional practice to the strengthening of pedagogical competencies,
understood as integrated abilities to plan, teach, assess, manage classroom
dynamics, communicate with various stakeholders, and critically reflect on the
outcomes of the intervention. González Beade et al.
(2023) found a significant relationship between teaching competencies and
pre-professional practices among elementary education students, which supports
the hypothesis that the practice setting helps to make visible and strengthen
competencies that may remain at a declarative level in the university classroom.
However, the notion of
pedagogical competence requires critical analysis. If understood solely as
mastery of procedures, it risks instrumentalizing teacher training and reducing
performance to observable short-term standards. Conversely, if conceived as a
situated capacity to interpret pedagogical problems and act with sound
judgment, competence acquires a reflective, ethical, and investigative
dimension. From this second perspective, pedagogical performance is not a sum
of isolated skills, but a form of professional judgment that is constructed
through guided experiences, analysis of practice, and feedback. The systematic
review by Hoyos Doria and Pacheco Tamayo (2025) reinforces this idea by noting
that research-based pedagogical practice fosters professional identity,
autonomy, and critical thinking when it integrates teaching, research, and
social engagement.
Recent Latin American
studies show that pre-professional practices strengthen competencies when they
allow students to gradually experience different levels of pedagogical
responsibility. In the early stages, observation and diagnosis of the context
can foster an understanding of school culture; subsequently, the planning and
execution of activities allow for the consolidation of teaching skills;
finally, reflection, evaluation, and situated research enable students to
analyze the impact of their decisions. This gradual process is consistent with
the idea of pedagogies of practice, according to which teacher training must
represent, deconstruct, approximate, and reconstruct the complex practices of
teaching so that future teachers can learn them deliberately rather than
through simple immersion (Müller & Gaete, 2024).
Santos Jerez and Holguin
Bastidas (2024) argue that pre-professional practicums strengthen pedagogical
competencies because they allow for the application of theoretical knowledge in
real-world settings, enhance adaptation to the classroom, and build students’
self-confidence. This finding is consistent with research highlighting the
effect of practice on the construction of professional identity and pedagogical
confidence. However, it is necessary to note that self-confidence does not
necessarily equate to quality of performance if it is not accompanied by
critical analysis, evaluation criteria, and expert feedback. A practicum can
foster familiarity with the classroom without profoundly altering the student’s
pedagogical frameworks; therefore, training must prevent the experience from
becoming an uncritical repetition of school routines.
Tutoring, mentoring, and
support as central mediators of professional learning
Tutorial mediation appears
in the literature as one of the decisive factors in explaining the relationship
between pre-professional practicums and the development of pedagogical
performance. The presence of academic tutors, collaborating teachers, and school
mentors allows the classroom experience to be interpreted, problematized, and
transformed into professional learning. Without this mediation, the student may
experience the classroom as a fragmented, emotionally intense, or technically
limited experience. Practice, therefore, does not educate on its own; it
educates when accompanied by pedagogical guidance, reflective dialogue,
systematic feedback, and shared criteria for professional development
(Fajardo-Pacheco et al., 2025; Flores Gómez et al., 2023).
Fajardo-Pacheco et al.
(2025) demonstrate that the academic mentor plays a key role as a pedagogical
mediator, reflective guide, and link between the university and the school, but
they also identify critical areas related to role clarification and communication
among stakeholders. This tension is central to the analysis, because a
pre-professional practice may be formally supported but weakly mediated if
tutors lack common pedagogical criteria, institutional time, or specific
training to guide student reflection. In this regard, tutorial support should
not be reduced to administrative supervision, report review, or attendance
monitoring, but should function as epistemological and professional mediation.
The role of the
collaborating teacher or professional tutor is also decisive. Flores Gómez et
al. (2023), in a Chilean study on collaborating teachers, show that there is a
persistent disconnect between university and school, as well as training needs
for those who accompany future teachers in practice settings. This evidence
suggests that students’ pedagogical performance depends not only on the
university curriculum but also on the quality of the professional models they
encounter in schools. If the collaborating teacher does not understand their
formative role or does not receive institutional support, the practicum may
reproduce traditional pedagogical models, limit reflection, or focus on
operational tasks rather than professional development.
Quality mentoring involves
providing scaffolding so that the student can interpret what is happening in
the classroom, understand the pedagogical reasons behind teaching decisions,
and develop their own responses. In this sense, mentors not only support the
execution of activities but also help build a professional language to identify
problems, formulate pedagogical hypotheses, and evaluate alternatives.
Ullauri-Ullauri and Mauri-Majós (2022) highlight the
importance of spaces for collaborative reflection on situations in
pre-professional practice, as well as the need to train mentors to teach
reflection in a more structured manner. This perspective reveals that
reflection does not arise spontaneously from experience, but must be taught,
guided, and institutionally supported.
Critical reflection,
situated research, and the development of pedagogical judgment
Critical reflection
constitutes a fundamental mediation between practical experience and the
development of pedagogical performance. Classroom experience can be intense and
meaningful, but it only becomes professional knowledge when the student
analyzes what happened, identifies problems, contrasts their decisions with
theoretical foundations, interprets evidence of learning, and reformulates
their actions. Reflective practice is not a subsequent or ancillary activity,
but a constitutive dimension of teacher learning, because it allows the future
teacher to develop pedagogical judgment and not depend exclusively on
methodological formulas (Pacheco Armijos et al., 2021; Ullauri-Ullauri &
Mauri-Majós, 2022).
Recent literature on
research-based pedagogical practice provides a particularly relevant framework
for understanding this relationship. Hoyos Doria and Pacheco Tamayo (2025)
identify the integration of theory, practice, and research as a central trend in
university teacher education, but they also note gaps linked to curricular
fragmentation and weak methodological training. This finding has direct
implications for pedagogical performance: a student may undertake practicums in
real-world contexts, but if they lack the tools to investigate their own
interventions, record evidence, formulate questions, and analyze results, their
professional learning will be limited. Situated research allows practice to be
not merely execution, but the production of pedagogical knowledge.
In the context of Latin
American higher education, research on practice also has political and social
significance, as it helps future teachers understand educational inequalities
and prevents them from attributing classroom problems to individual student
deficits. Analyzing practice involves recognizing institutional, cultural,
family, and community factors that influence learning. Therefore, pedagogical
performance is strengthened when students learn to critically interpret the
context and design relevant responses, rather than applying strategies out of
context. Practice-based training thus requires integrating observation,
intervention, research, and reflection as inseparable processes (Rodríguez
Lozano et al., 2024; Tacuri Albarracín & Vega Alonso, 2024).
Situated research also
helps bridge the gap between academic knowledge and practical know-how. The
OECD (2025) emphasizes the importance of initial teacher education institutions
strengthening future teachers’ capacities to use evidence and research, given
that pedagogical decision-making requires linking scientific knowledge and
professional practice. This approach is consistent with Latin America’s need to
train teachers capable of grounding their decisions, critically evaluating
pedagogical innovations, and participating in professional learning
communities. Consequently, pre-professional practice has a greater impact on
performance when integrated with processes of formative inquiry and the
reflective use of evidence.
Institutional conditions, curricular
coherence, and the university-school link
The relationship between
pre-professional practicums and pedagogical performance is strongly conditioned
by the institutional architecture that underpins the university-school link.
The reviewed studies show that practicums are more formative when there is
coherence between the university’s pedagogical model, the objectives of the
graduate profile, assessment criteria, tutor training, and the actual needs of
educational institutions. When these elements appear disconnected, practicum
runs the risk of becoming an ambiguous space where students receive
contradictory messages about what it means to teach well (Fajardo-Pacheco et
al., 2025; Reiban et al., 2024; Saldaña Gómez & González González, 2022).
Reiban et al. (2024), in
analyzing teacher training practicums in Ecuador from the perspective of
educational stakeholders, highlight generally positive perceptions regarding
their contribution to the educational experience, but also point out areas for improvement
to strengthen pedagogical competencies in the face of specific contextual
challenges. This evidence is important because it helps us understand that
pre-professional practicums should not be evaluated solely based on student
satisfaction or attendance in schools, but rather on their ability to develop
professional skills linked to real-world problems. In other words, practicums
must be based on an intentional training design and evaluation mechanisms that
allow for the identification of progress, difficulties, and support needs.
Curricular coherence
implies that practicums are not separate from theoretical courses but engage
with them progressively. If theory is taught without connection to school
reality and practice is carried out without conceptual foundations,
fragmentation occurs that weakens pedagogical performance. Tacuri Albarracín
and Vega Alonso (2024) argue that pedagogical work practice in higher education
must be analyzed from theoretical and legal foundations and key actions, which
demonstrates that practice requires complex institutional support. From a
critical perspective, this means that the development of pedagogical
performance cannot rest exclusively on the individual disposition of the
practicum student, but rather on university models that integrate training,
monitoring, evaluation, and continuous improvement.
A comparative regional
analysis reveals that pedagogical practices in teacher training challenge the
theoretical-technical tradition that conceives of practice as subsidiary to
theory. Rodríguez Lozano et al. (2024) argue that the practice of teachers in
training is key to educational improvement and that this practice must be
analyzed in dialogue with the realities of different Latin American countries.
This perspective allows us to assert that the university should not send
students to “apply” knowledge in schools conceived as external laboratories,
but rather to build educational partnerships where the university and the
school produce shared pedagogical knowledge. Such a link is indispensable for
pedagogical performance to develop under authentic conditions and not within
curricular simulations.
Recent Transformations:
Virtual Learning, Hybrid Training, and Challenges in Pedagogical Performance
The pandemic and the
expansion of hybrid modalities substantially altered the ways in which
pre-professional practicums are conducted and demanded new pedagogical skills
from teacher education students. Pacheco Armijos et al. (2021) analyzed
experiences with virtual pre-professional practicums and concluded that
learning to teach, knowing how to be, and knowing how to do can be developed
through adaptive models that activate theory, energize teaching, and strengthen
knowledge. This finding is relevant because it shows that contemporary
pedagogical performance can no longer be understood exclusively within the
face-to-face classroom, but rather within hybrid settings where technological
mediation, digital communication, and didactic flexibility are part of teaching
professionalism.
Hybrid training does not
eliminate the need for situated practice, but it expands its requirements. A
future teacher must be able to design in-person, virtual, and blended learning
experiences, interpret participation data, maintain pedagogical connections in
digital environments, and adapt resources to varying connectivity conditions.
UNESCO (2023) notes that initial teacher education programs must prepare
teachers to work in in-person, remote, and hybrid settings, which requires
rethinking curricula, practicums, and mentoring. In Latin America, this
requirement is compounded by technological access gaps and socioeconomic
inequalities that affect both schools and student teachers (Arias Ortiz et al.,
2024).
The incorporation of
technology into pre-professional practice must be critically analyzed. It is
not enough to digitize activities or use platforms; what matters is developing
pedagogical competence to select media, design meaningful interactions, assess
learning using formative criteria, and prevent technology from exacerbating
exclusion. Therefore, pre-professional practicums in the hybrid era must
integrate digital competencies with pedagogical judgment, ethical
understanding, and contextual sensitivity. If technology is incorporated
without reflection, it can reinforce transmissive approaches; if it is
integrated through research and reflective practice, it can expand
opportunities for mediation, collaboration, and learning monitoring (OECD,
2025; UNESCO, 2023).
Specific Challenges for
Latin America in Practical Teacher Training
A review of the literature
identifies specific challenges for practical teacher training in Latin America.
The first relates to institutional inequality between universities and practice
sites. Not all higher education institutions have stable school networks,
trained mentors, consistent assessment tools, or the capacity for ongoing
monitoring. This inequality directly affects the development of pedagogical
performance because it generates heterogeneous practicum experiences, some
highly formative and others focused on meeting requirements. UNESCO’s regional
teacher strategy (2026) underscores the need to strengthen support, mentoring,
and professionalization policies, which is consistent with the findings of the
literature on pre-professional practicums.
The second challenge
concerns the evaluation of pedagogical performance. Often, the evaluation of
teaching practice is reduced to reports, general rubrics, or tutor assessments,
without integrating complex evidence from the training process. Evaluating pedagogical
performance requires observing planning, interaction, adaptability, assessment
criteria, communication, reflection, and continuous improvement. The culture of
educational evaluation in the region has made progress in using evidence for
public policy, but still faces challenges in translating that logic to higher
education training processes and the evaluation of professional teacher
learning (Arias Ortiz et al., 2024; OECD, 2025).
The third challenge relates
to the need to train supervisors and collaborating faculty as agents of
professionalization. Evidence shows that classroom teachers play a crucial role
in supporting student teachers, but they do not always receive training to
perform mentoring, feedback, or reflective modeling functions (Flores Gómez et
al., 2023). This creates an institutional paradox: universities depend on
schools to train teachers, but often do not invest sufficiently in training
those who serve as co-trainers. Overcoming this tension requires sustained
partnerships, professional recognition, and incentives for school tutors.
The fourth challenge is to
prevent the practicum from uncritically reproducing traditional pedagogical
models. If the student enters school contexts where transmissive teaching,
punitive assessment, or authoritarian classroom management predominate, the practicum
may reinforce attitudes contrary to pedagogical innovation. Therefore,
university supervision must help students critically interpret their
observations, distinguish between contextual adaptation and the reproduction of
irrelevant practices, and develop viable alternatives. In this sense,
pedagogies of practice offer a framework for modeling, analyzing, and testing
teaching methods that enable future teachers to develop adaptive capacities in
the face of classroom complexity (Müller & Gaete, 2024).
The findings of the review
support the claim that the relationship between pre-professional practices and
pedagogical performance is significant, but it is mediated by pedagogical and
institutional conditions that determine its educational depth. Empirical
studies show positive correlations, favorable perceptions, and evidence of
strengthened professional competencies; however, they also caution that
practice may lose its potential if organized in a fragmented manner, with weak
support, or without opportunities for reflection. Consequently, the central
question is not whether placements are important, but what type of placements
actually develop pedagogical performance and under what institutional
conditions (González Beade et al., 2023; Pinto Ayala
& Saldaña Gómez, 2025; Reiban et al., 2024).
A first identified tension
is the persistent separation between theory and practice. Although curricular
discourses often affirm their articulation, the literature shows that this
relationship remains problematic in Latin American teacher education. Practice
cannot be understood as the “application” of theory, because pedagogical
knowledge is transformed through contact with real-world situations; nor can it
be reduced to unfounded empirical experience, because this impoverishes
teaching professionalism. The contribution of practice to pedagogical
performance occurs precisely when theory and experience engage with one another
through reflection, research, and feedback (Hoyos Doria & Pacheco Tamayo,
2025; Saldaña Gómez & González González, 2022;
Ullauri-Ullauri & Mauri-Majós, 2022).
A second tension relates to
the role of the actors involved in the practice. The reviewed studies show that
students, academic tutors, collaborating teachers, and school administrators
have educational responsibilities, but they do not always share criteria,
pedagogical language, or expectations. This lack of coherence affects
performance development because the student may receive contradictory guidance
or guidance focused on administrative tasks rather than pedagogical analysis.
The literature on tutoring and collaborative teaching suggests that improving
practices requires professionalizing mediators, clarifying roles, and building
co-formation communities between universities and schools (Fajardo-Pacheco et
al., 2025; Flores Gómez et al., 2023).
A third tension relates to
evaluation. Pedagogical performance is a complex construct that cannot be
measured solely by satisfaction, attendance, or adherence to lesson plans. It
requires evidence of progression, observation of interactions, analysis of decisions,
adaptability, and reflection on outcomes. Latin American higher education faces
the challenge of designing formative practice evaluations that support
professional learning without reducing it to bureaucratic indicators. On this
point, the literature on the use of evidence and research in initial teacher
education provides important guidance: the future teacher must learn to ground
their decisions and generate knowledge about their own teaching (OECD, 2025).
A fourth tension relates to
regional inequality. Although the reviewed studies show promising experiences,
many of them are concentrated in institutions with structured practice models,
such as the National University of Education in Ecuador or Chilean universities
with research on mentoring. The region exhibits heterogeneity in regulations,
resources, school-university linkages, and practice conditions. Therefore, it
is not appropriate to automatically extrapolate positive results to the entire
Latin American system. Rather, the evidence suggests that the effect of these
practices on performance depends on sustained institutional policies, networks
of educational institutions, mentor training, and systematic evaluation
(Rodríguez Lozano et al., 2024; UNESCO, 2026; UNESCO IESALC, 2024).
A significant research gap
is also evident: much of the available research is based on the perceptions of
students, mentors, or school stakeholders, which provides valuable information
on subjective assessments but does not always allow for an analysis of the
longitudinal development of pedagogical performance. Research is needed that
follows students through various stages of practicum, observes classroom
performance, compares evidence of planning, interaction, and assessment, and
examines how pre-professional experiences impact the early years of entering
the workforce. Without this type of research, the field runs the risk of
affirming the importance of practicum without sufficiently understanding its
formative mechanisms.
From a critical
perspective, it can be argued that pre-professional practicums are a space of
contention between two conceptions of teacher education. The first views them
as an operational requirement for students to “get to know” the school and
fulfill hours of experience. The second conceives of them as the
epistemological core of professionalization, where pedagogical knowledge is
produced, teaching identity is constructed, and performance is developed
through guided reflection. Recent evidence clearly favors the second
conception, but its implementation requires profound institutional changes:
integrated curricula, trained mentors, co-responsible practice sites, authentic
assessment, and a culture of research on teaching.
Conclusions
The
literature review leads to the conclusion that pre-professional practicums are
closely linked to the development of pedagogical performance among university
students in teacher education programs; however, this relationship is not
automatic nor does it depend solely on classroom exposure. Practicums enhance
performance when they are organized as intentional, situated, progressive, and
mediated learning experiences capable of integrating theory, action,
reflection, research, and evaluation. Conversely, their potential is diminished
when they are conceived as an administrative requirement, the fulfillment of
hours, or an isolated experience without systematic support.
The review shows that
pedagogical performance develops through the integration of professional
competencies that include instructional planning, learning mediation, diversity
management, formative assessment, pedagogical communication, contextualized decision-making,
and critical reflection. These competencies are strengthened in practice
because students face real teaching challenges and learn to interpret the
complexity of the classroom. However, for this experience to yield deep
professional learning, academic tutors and collaborating teachers capable of
guiding, providing feedback, and critically examining pedagogical practice are
required.
Tutoring and mentoring are
central mediations. The reviewed studies show that tutors are key actors in
transforming the experience into professional knowledge, but they also reveal
weaknesses in role clarification, the training of collaborating teachers, and
coordination between universities and schools. Therefore, a relevant
institutional implication is that universities must recognize the practice as a
system of co-formation and not as an activity delegated to schools. This
requires stable agreements, shared criteria, tutor training, academic
monitoring, and formative assessment.
Critical reflection and
situated research emerge as essential conditions for pre-professional practice
to contribute to pedagogical performance. The future teacher must not only
carry out classroom activities but also learn to observe, ask questions, document,
analyze evidence, justify decisions, and reformulate their intervention. In
this sense, research-based pedagogical practice represents a significant
pathway to overcoming the separation between theory and practice, strengthening
professional identity, and promoting teaching grounded in evidence, contextual
sensitivity, and ethical responsibility.
In Latin America,
pre-professional practices face challenges associated with institutional inequality,
heterogeneity of training models, resource gaps, weaknesses in evaluation, and
the need to strengthen university-school links. These challenges become more
complex in hybrid and digital contexts, where pedagogical performance demands
new skills for teaching, mentoring, and assessing in both in-person and virtual
settings. Therefore, teacher education in higher education must update its
practice models to address diversity, inclusion, technological transformation,
and the social demands of the teaching profession.
Finally, it is concluded
that strengthening pre-professional practices must be a priority for university
policy, educational research, and curriculum management in teacher education
programs. Improving these practices requires shifting from a compliance-based
approach to one of comprehensive professionalization, in which each practical
experience contributes to training teachers capable of critically understanding
school realities, designing relevant pedagogical interventions, and sustaining
processes of continuous improvement. In terms of research, it is recommended to
expand longitudinal, observational, and comparative studies that allow for a
more precise understanding of how pedagogical performance develops throughout
the practical training trajectory and how it impacts the professional
integration of future teachers.
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