Complexities of university professional development and mixed methodological keys for its analysis

Abstract

Introduction: The complexity of professional development is closely associated to the integral professional role of essential university processes. Precedents show the difficulties of teachers for its fulfillment. In this context fragmented assessments are carried out, which prioritize one or other aspects of the professional pedagogical activity of the university professor, methods and participants are used without achieving a whole assessment of the state of professional development with a view on guiding training interventions. Objective: To support the use of mixed methods in diagnosis and training intervention to facilitate the professional development of professors at university contexts. Methods: A review of the literature was done, which facilitated understanding the complex and multifactorial dimension of professional development, the difficulties of the teaching staff, the methods and procedures that can be useful in carrying out the integral diagnosis of the university teacher, and the construction of a training intervention programme. Conclusions: The studies show methodologies that seek to evaluate some or other aspects of professional development, with a unilateral approach, this is the reason why the arguments expressed about the use of mixed methods in this study fulfil to set the foundations for their systemization and validation in different university contexts.