Responsible Teachers in Venezuela and Mexico

This work is part of the research project: Professional Ethics in Teachers Training. The principal purpose of the paper is to present and compare the results obtained in Venezuela and Mexico, with 250 teachers from six universities specialized in training teachers that work in different educational levels, about the answers to the open question “In your opinion, which are the main features of being a responsible teacher?” The teachers who answered the open question, in general, are simultaneously working in education institutions and are graduate students in this type of universities. We selected this special question, because responsibility is the most important value in professional ethics in the theoretical framework and in the empirical outcomes. The answers were classified with the methodology of “Content Analysis”. They were also organized in five types of competencies: cognitive, ethical, affective-emotional, technical and social. We found interesting differences between the two Latin American countries. By example, in a descendant order the highest percentages were the ethical and technical competencies in Venezuela (30.89% and 28.28%) and in Mexico (both with 29.22%). In the first country the social competencies are in the third position (21.97%), meanwhile in México they are in the fifth place (5.84%). The cognitive competencies are in the fourth situation in Venezuela (8.92%) and in México in the third (22.58%). The affective – emotional competencies obtained the last place in Venezuela (8.24%) and in México the fourth (13.15%). In Venezuela the principal features are Attendance and punctuality, Being a good worker, Responsibility, Autonomy and Planning. In Mexico the highest are Responsibility, Actualization, Planning, Attendance and punctuality and Emotional capacity.