The Beginnings of Professional Identity in the Training of Secondary School Teachers in Guanajuato

The professional activity of teachers is guaranteed by an initial training offered by the Escuela Normal in Mexico and the achievement of a degree in Education, similar to Magisterio degree studies in Higher Education. This educational process is articulated with one's own personal history, previous experiences, external and internal motivations beyond the fulfillment of an institutionalized curriculum. The investigation of the Official Higher School of Guanajuato in Mexico proposes to develop the students' professional identity, considering their personal trajectory as a process of professional socialization with pedagogical beliefs that emerge from several experiences to guide their teaching identity. Under the methodology of Grounded Theory, the discourse of students of the Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Education, Specialized in Telecommunications and Mathematics is analyzed in an autobiography. The elaboration of the theory regarding the study object is based on the inductive analysis of qualitative data. Its selection is defined by theoretical sampling and saturation, with a conceptual arrangement, codification and constant comparison until categories with common properties are identified. It is concluded that the voices of first grade students are situated in three socio-cultural settings: influence received, vocational idea and employment needs, which include internal mind-structure meanings prior to their entrance to the Normal School as well as preconceived ideas about the educational world, the teacher's being, where they form new conceptions and leave others, in an upward loop of knowledge, experiences and challenges during the initial teacher training process in Guanajuato, Mexico.