General and specific competencies for professional practice within the framework of social public policy in Ecuador

Abstract

Introduction: This mixed-type study was carried out with the objective of asking professionals from entities that execute social public policy in the areas of social services, education, health and labor protection, about what professional competences a professional should have. Materials and methods: The methodological strategy was carried out through theoretical (qualitative) validation by experts of the information collection instrument, tabulation and statistical analysis of the responses (quantitative). Results: The main findings have allowed us to reach conclusions that will provide new perspectives to assume the university education of people who choose social careers. Discussion: There is an important variety of proposals on how to build professional competencies to include them in career projects in social disciplines, as such it would be necessary to make the corresponding efforts to reasonably create a group of standardized competencies to avoid generating efforts individuals that can be very different from each other. Conclusions: The universities face a challenge to build career programs that find key aspects in daily life and dynamics of social public policy, as a source of quality assurance of the career programs they offer.