Being a member of an Academic Body in a Normal school: meanings and tensions

Abstract

This qualitative research carried out in a Mexico City Normal School during 2019 reveals the meanings members of Academic Bodies (ABs) registered in a Program for Professional Development of Teachers (Prodep, for its initials in Spanish) convey to their participation and permanence within their AB. As usual, in an AB, it is expected these members carry out research and other professional development tasks that aim at not only the construction of knowledge but also their development as researchers. Through this study, it was learnt what these professionals think about their belonging to an AB and their generating new knowledge; what institutional, professional and individual requirements are needed to achieve this, and the type of knowledge acquired to develop their habitus. This research concludes these BA members consider the "generation of knowledge" in a Normal school an event associated with a living process, not only a theoretical one, emerging from the interaction with members of other BAs, and the resulting academic knowledge provides individual and collective gains.