Expandiendo la reforma en la capacitacion de docentes en guatemala: El rol de los procesos de pensamiento de LOS maestros

The Guatemalan Government has embarked on an ambitious educational reform project that includes decentralization of the educational system and curricular restructuring. We suggest that this reform movement, particulary the efforts related to inservice teacher training programs, should broaden its conceptual focus by reformulating the definition of teachers and their roles from developmental and constructivist perspectives. To illustrate our thesis, we review the literature on teacher thougt processes. Studies in developed countries and in Guatemala are used to illustrate this literature. We conclude that, by adopting a cognitive model of teaching, reformers will be able to take into account a critical dimension too often overlooked in these efforts: the beliefs, theories, decisions, and values of those in charge of implementing educational reforms, the Guatemalan teachers.