Transfer of learning factors model applied to in-service teachers of early childhood care and education in Puebla, Mexico

Abstract

Research has shown that early childhood care and education (ECCE) can improve children’s development. Training of in-service teachers is a good strategy to maximize the quality of ECCE, but in Mexico, teachers consider that in-service training is not particularly relevant. To counter this tendency, The Mexican Educational System designed and implemented an in-service training policy. The aim of this study was to analyse the impact of individual factors on learning transfer during the COVID-19 pandemic. It followed a longitudinal, non-experimental design. Two instruments were applied at different times. In May 2021, during the COVID-19 lockdown, the Puebla Ministry of Education offered five online courses aimed at early childhood and preschool teachers. 6,562 teachers enrolled, but only 2,865 successfully completed the courses. Upon completion of the courses, we applied the transfer of learning factors model (Quesada- Pallarès et al., 2018). The model predicted that teachers devise plans and strategies for applying the contents learned, guided by their own desire to transfer. In this regard, it might be asserted that the will to transfer is steered by teachers’ autonomous drive to transfer.