This document aims to explore the mechanisms through which communities of practice were integrated to facilitate the educational journey during the professional updating program "Formación y práctica docente" ("Training and Teaching Practice") for students pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Preschool Education at one of Universidad Pedagógica Nacional (“National Pedagogical University”) units in southern Mexico City. The objective was to analyze the feasibility of building communities of practice as a potential pedagogical strategy within the framework of the students' graduation process and its applicability in future courses. A participatory action research methodology was employed, implemented alongside the updating courses themselves.

The findings concluded that, although building communities of practice as a formative strategy faces significant challenges, the students' satisfaction and interest suggest the need to explore this option further. This approach should address trainee teachers' concerns and create a conducive environment for strengthening this methodology.

Keywords: Collaborative learning; communities of practice; higher education; teacher training.

The Professional Updating Program represents a viable graduation option for graduates of the Bachelor’s Degree in Preschool Education at Unidad 097 of the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional (UPN). This program is specifically designed for students who, due to personal or work-related reasons, have faced difficulties completing this stage of their university education. Most participants are students who completed their degree over two years ago, leading to the disuse of academic writing skills. Additionally, entering the professional field, predominantly as teachers or educational assistants, sometimes generates reluctance or insecurity about resuming writing practices.

Academic writing, particularly thesis drafting, is often approached as a set of conventions that students must learn and adopt. This perspective sometimes assumes students as a tabula rasa, disregarding their prior training and the linguistic repertoires they have developed in non-academic contexts. Such a conception presents the process of learning to write as a unidirectional activity where experts transfer academic practices and thought patterns to novices. Moreover, this approach tends to view writing as a series of cognitive or textual processes disconnected from individuals' specific life trajectories, as if developed in a vacuum or standardized contexts (Montes et al., 2022, p. 2).

The described conflict highlights the absence of certain codes and discourses specific to the academic domain that students struggle to assimilate after being distanced from this environment for an extended period. In this context, academic literacy is defined as:

The set of notions and strategies necessary to participate in the discursive culture of disciplines, as well as in the activities of text production and analysis required for university learning. It thus encompasses the language and thought practices specific to the higher academic domain. Additionally, it refers to the process through which one becomes part of a scientific and/or professional community, precisely by adopting its established forms of reasoning and discourse conventions (Carlino, 2003).

In this Context, a problem is identified regarding the prevalence of individual academic practices. Viewing the graduation process as an exclusively personal endeavor limits the perception of these processes as spaces that foster interpersonal communication and the simultaneous development of skills and attitudes, alongside the investigative activities inherent to an academic project. This perspective often reinforces the notion that thesis development resembles an authoritarian and structured monologue, a specialized code to be mastered without considering the student's preconceptions and prior trajectories (Bernstein, 2005).

According to Calvo López (2009), the graduation project allows students to generate knowledge by mobilizing meanings through the weaving of concepts, notions, and problems utilized in their writing during the project development. This work can take various forms, such as a thesis, dissertation, or essay. While the knowledge generated at the undergraduate level is not necessarily innovative, the process facilitates the mobilization of concepts and perspectives, enabling students to generate their own meanings from the information collected and confronted with a research axis. In this regard, the role of the guiding teacher must focus on fostering the exchange of meanings to enhance the student’s analytical and reflective skills.

The key lies in providing support to the teaching team that avoids the imposition of mandatory prescriptions or formulas. For change to be collective and sustainable, it must first occur at a personal level. In this sense, teacher training becomes a fundamental axis for promoting educational transformation (López-Larios et al., 2022).

The following are some guiding questions proposed to orient the previously discussed reflection:

• Should a teacher accompanying a graduation course limit themselves exclusively to teaching?
• What aspects of university teaching practices could be modified in a course focused on the preparation of graduation projects?
• To what extent can collaborative exercises and peer work contribute to improving academic practices in the context of a course oriented towards graduation?

Under this logic, the following objectives are established:

• Contextualize the professional updating program "Formación y práctica docente" ("Training and Teaching Practice") within the framework of the academic offerings inherent to the graduation process of Unidad 097 at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional.
• Justify the notion of "communities of practice" through a documentary review that supports it.
• Gather testimonies from students participating in the professional updating courses, reflecting on their experiences in this setting, and triangulate them with previously obtained information.
• Assess the relevance of constructing communities of practice within the framework of the professional updating courses offered at Unidad 097 of the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional.

• Communities of Practice: A Conceptual Approach

The term refers to the collaborative, autonomous, and interdependent work of a group of individuals united by common interests and ideals. These individuals, organized, establish commitments to shared learning (Molina Ruiz, 2005). A community of practice fosters the construction of a new culture of negotiation focused on research activities and the creation of organizational schemes that consider participants' working conditions.

A community of practice is defined as a group of individuals engaged in the same activity or professional responsibility who, motivated by a common problem or interest, deepen their knowledge and experience through continuous interaction (Sanz Martos, 2012). In this context, cooperative learning contributes to the holistic development of students and the achievement of fundamental educational objectives within the framework of the 2030 Agenda. Its emphasis on inclusion, collaboration, and personal and social development positions it as a key tool for building a more equitable and comprehensive educational system (Navarro Martínez et al., 2024).

According to Wenger et al. (2002), a community of practice consists of a group of individuals who share a concern, a set of problems, or a common interest in a particular topic. Through continuous interaction, participants deepen their knowledge and develop greater expertise in the field. These dimensions help understand their functioning, which is based on the presence of shared goals among members and the construction of common values. Key Dimensions:

• Domain: The knowledge around which community members affiliate and interact. The community organizes itself around the domain; through committed and sustained participation, members negotiate the meanings underlying the community's activities until they become shared meanings.
• Community: Established through relationships of mutual commitment, whereby community members integrate as a social entity, regularly interact, engage in joint activities, and build trust-based relationships. Mutual commitment forms the basis for creating a joint enterprise with its own identity, understood and continuously renegotiated by its members. While individual interests and needs may differ, they imply a collective process of ongoing negotiation defined by the participants.
• Practice: Members of a community are practitioners of something they hold in common. Practice can be made explicit consciously but may also occur unintentionally. The characteristics of practice that provide coherence to a community include mutual commitment, joint enterprise, and a shared repertoire.

John Seely Brown, cited by Sanz Martos (2012), defines communities of practice as "a group of people with different roles and perspectives, committed to working together over a significant period of time during which they build objects, solve problems, learn, invent, and negotiate meanings, and develop a way to read each other." Wenger (2001) identified three fundamental premises underpinning the concept of a community of practice: mutual commitment, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire.

The first characteristic acting as a source of coherence in communities of practice is the mutual commitment of its members. Practice is consolidated through participants' engagement in actions whose meaning is collectively negotiated. In this context, practice may involve the use of various artifacts, but its essence lies in the community of individuals and the relationships of mutual participation that enable them to carry out their activities (Wenger, 2001). According to Wenger, a community of practice is not defined by a specific common characteristic, such as:

• Social category, loyalty, organizational affiliation, or maintaining personal relationships with others.
• Maintaining a network of interpersonal relationships through which information flows.
• Geographical proximity

Joint Enterprise: A joint enterprise is not merely an established goal but the collective construction of a set of mutual responsibilities integrated as an essential part of the practice. These responsibilities are defined by participants as they assume them, reflecting a collective negotiation process inherent to the complexity of mutual commitment.

The definition of agreements around a goal is a dynamic, non-static process. In the logic inherent to the action-research process adopted within the dynamics of the updating course, decision-making was a constant throughout the various stages of the methodological route. The needs and particularities of each project and topic addressed in the workshop course required a flexible approach, consistent with the principle of “reflective practice” (Elliott, 2005).

Shared Repertoire: The repertoire of a community of practice includes "routines, words, tools, ways of doing things, stories, gestures, symbols, genres, actions, or contexts that the community has produced or adopted during its existence and that have become part of its practice" (Wenger, 2011, p. 110).

By combining teaching and research, the process supports Usher et al. (1997), who argued that action-research functions as a mechanism that facilitates theory construction derived from action. This process is not limited to formal theory or theory exclusively constructed by the practicing teacher but results from a joint interaction between theoretical action and theorization derived from practice.

The perspective aligns with Solé-Blanch (2024), who states that "the rhetoric around meritocracy and the promotion of talent only reinforces an instrumental view of education, along with an anti-intellectualism obsessed with preparing new generations for future occupations that, no less, determine progress, yet no one is capable of imagining" (p. XX).

Although in Unidad 097 high graduation efficiency rates have been observed in this modality, the exercises designed to evaluate the experiences of graduates and participants involved in the program's construction remain limited. This limitation hinders a deep analysis of the learning experiences generated. The proposed program contributes to professional accreditation and legitimizes the degree attainment process. However, it is essential to establish evaluation mechanisms that consolidate its viability and impact on students' professional lives beyond the immediate goal of graduation.

Based on the above and following the call issued by the university in January 2023, participation was invited for the Programa de Actualización Profesional (Professional Updating Program) as a graduation option for the Bachelor’s Degree in Preschool Education under the 2008 curriculum. The focus was placed on the group enrolled in the subject Educación y práctica docente (Education and Teaching Practice), taught at Unidad 097 Sur.

According to the announcement, the course lasted a total of 120 hours, divided into four modules of 30 hours each, delivered in a face-to-face modality requiring four weekly hours. The Reglamento General para la Obtención del Título de Licenciatura de la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional (General Regulations for Obtaining a Bachelor's Degree at UPN, 2019) stipulates: “The graduate participates in a program, either in-person, semi-in-person, or online, aimed at developing skills or updating knowledge required for their performance as an education professional” (Torres Hernández, 2019). The participating group consisted of 16 female students.

To frame this work, some ideas characterizing the target population are analyzed, aiming to contextualize elements influencing students' socioeconomic scenarios, underlying academic lags, and possible paths to facilitate degree completion.

To illustrate the case of Unidad 097 Sur, the study by Mejía Pérez & González Callejas (2022) is referenced. This work aimed to reveal, through a survey conducted in May 2020, the conditions under which students at a UPN unit in Mexico City continued their studies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the study focused on analyzing socioeconomic conditions during the first wave of the pandemic, it is pertinent to revisit it, as this cohort of bachelor's students was significantly affected, demonstrating notable academic lags.

By May 2020, Unidad 097 offered the Bachelor’s Degree in Preschool Education (2008 curriculum), a Master’s in Basic Education, and two online bachelor’s degrees. During the 2020-2021 school year, it served 316 students in person and 108 online. An additional 40 students were enrolled in diploma courses during May (Mejía Pérez & González Callejas, 2022)

Although alternative graduation modalities, such as professional updating courses focusing on various themes, have been implemented, this generation highlights a potential field for the continuation of their professional development through the specialization promoted by this proposal.
Additionally, the sociodemographic conditions of the participants in the mentioned study present a relevant panorama for the central theme of the specialization, given that:

According to observations (…), 65 people are primary caregivers of an elderly person or someone with a disability, representing 25% of the surveyed population. Within this group, 19 are primary caregivers without any assistance, representing 7%. This initial view of the students’ conditions reveals that, for at least a quarter of them, time at home during confinement was divided into three major activities: work, studies, and caregiving (a triple workload). In addition to working, studying, and caring for an elderly person or someone with a disability, some women who study also play the role of mothers (Mejía Pérez & González Callejas, 2022).

In this context, the diversity in household composition, the roles played within family dynamics, and the multiple responsibilities assumed outside the home highlight the complexity of the conditions faced by students in the Bachelor’s Degree in Preschool Education. Although this group was considered for the pilot questionnaire to design this specialization, this does not imply that entry into the specialization is exclusively limited to this group. Regarding resources for studying from home, 95% of participants have internet access at their residence. However, only half have a high-quality service, while 30% have low-quality connections. Additionally, more than half share their work device with a family member.

The first step was to promote the construction of personal narratives about identities related to teaching, establishing these as the foundation for creating a learning community. Identifying commonalities in the participants' life stories became a central aspect of strengthening the notion of "community" in the pursuit of shared objectives and defining topics to address during the work process.

In this framework, some testimonies provided by the students were recovered to contrast and discuss possible articulating axes that connected them. Collecting testimonies was considered a valuable resource for reconstructing the meaning of participating in a degree seminar beyond obtaining a document legitimizing an academic level. This approach allowed the school space to be conceived in terms of what Augé (2000) calls an anthropological place, defined by its capacity to configure itself as a relational, identity-related, and historical space.

Likewise, Suárez (2021) reinforces the utility of narration as a constructor of reality, helping to resignify experiences, reconfigure their meaning, and generate new interpretations. Suárez emphasizes the strength of narratives as instruments that, while not definitively encapsulating experience, allow for its recreation and transformation.

Under this perspective, the narratives created by the students were integrated into the reception documents of the 2022 and 2023 Professional Updating Courses. In constructing their works, participants were asked to craft a narrative linking their personal life history with the reasons that led them to pursue teaching, aligned with the proposal of Fierro et al. (2000) on the dimensions of teaching practice.

As an integrative element of these narratives, Bourdieu's (2001) theory of cultural capital was adopted as the guiding axis for their analysis and conceptualization. From this perspective, the decision to join the updating course as a pathway to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in Preschool Education reflects a desire for institutional recognition of the cultural capital acquired by the students. In this sense, the academic degree acts as a symbolic asset allowing its holders to be recognized, compared, and even exchanged within the dynamics of the educational system. From a functionalist perspective, obtaining the degree is not only an act of legitimization by the educational institution and the state but also facilitates formal integration into the labor market and the productive system.

All necessary ethical precautions were taken to ensure the participants' integrity, preserving their anonymity through testimony codifications and ensuring that participation in all activities conducted before, during, and after the research was entirely voluntary (Miranda-Novales & Villasís-Keever, 2019; World Medical Association, 2022; World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki, 2013).

To preserve anonymity, testimonial citations are coded as F/M (Female or Male) followed by two digits representing the person’s age.

The first case shares the following account:

“The beginning of my profession was during my psychology studies at UNAM. During my time at this institution, I participated in projects conducted in elementary schools, kindergartens, and at CCH Vallejo, venturing into the educational field. During this stage of my life, I recognized that emotional states, social relationships, the classroom environment, and the students influence the development of activities and academic performance. At the end of my studies, my first work experience was in early education with a School for Parents. There, I learned that family relationships influence children's development in interactions with others” (F, 23).

In this case, a background prior to enrollment at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional (UPN) can be identified. When analyzed through Bourdieu’s field theory (1987), this background can be classified as institutionalized cultural capital, represented by courses, projects, and professional training, as well as incorporated cultural capital, reflected in the skills, knowledge, and dispositions acquired. This prior experience highlights significant elements in the professional formation of those involves:

"I began searching for a school that could help me. My practice took place at an ISSSTE daycare. At that significant moment for me, I realized that applying theory was different: you can excel in theory, but when performing activities, you must put your soul into it because I discovered that it wasn’t as easy as I thought. I faced different realities, which changed my perspective and how I viewed children." (F, 36)

In this case, the participant's narrative reveals a professional trajectory starting within a government agency. However, it also underscores a contrast between theory and practice, expressed in the phrase "I faced different realities," suggesting an apparent opposition between these elements. Nonetheless, in teaching, theory is indispensable; one never stops learning and reflecting on practice.

Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez (2003), drawing from Feuerbach, examines the relationship between theory and practice, concluding that both are inseparable. According to this analysis, if practice were merely utilitarian and narrow in scope, it could not underpin knowledge, as the subject would perceive the object not as it is but based on selfish needs. Excluding practical activity from the relationship between subject and object would strip practice of its dynamism, reducing theoretical knowledge to mere contemplation.

In the context of the previous testimony, the dynamism of teaching is essential due to the constant need for updates, changes in the ways of thinking among various social sectors, and representations surrounding social phenomena that impact the school environment.

The analysis of a new testimony incorporates additional elements into the discussion, enriching the conceptual framework of the learning community. Below is an excerpt provided by another teacher participating in the course:

"My first five years were spent living in Xico, State of Mexico. (...) I attended preschool in this same community. This is what motivated me to become a teacher: my kindergarten teacher was pleasant; I liked how she taught the classes, the way she treated me with kindness, her demeanor. At home, I would imitate her and play teacher with my dolls. (...) After finishing middle school (...) a neighbor invited me to enroll in a social center to study as an educational assistant. I had to work to cover expenses and transportation, as the center wasn’t nearby. Without hesitation, I enrolled because it was a way to learn, to get to know and understand what being a teacher entailed, to gain the necessary knowledge for dealing with children and teaching methods. I knew it wasn’t the same to play teacher or take care of my siblings as standing in front of a group of preschool children. (During) my internship, my experience was in the preschool group 3. For two months, I supported the teacher, who gave me advice on relating to the students. My interaction was limited to her and the school principal; I didn’t connect with any other staff members." (F, 37).

Following Bernstein’s (2005) theoretical framework, it can be argued that teachers begin constructing an identity based on specific life events that can be identified as shared and contribute to shaping a social identity. These elements can be synthesized and analyzed as follows:

• Early Educational Inspiration: The positive influence of a preschool teacher is evident in shaping the participant's aspiration to enter the teaching profession. This highlights the importance of role models in early education and their impact on shaping professional aspirations.
• Socioeconomic Challenges: The need to work to afford expenses and transportation underscores the socioeconomic barriers that many individuals face in pursuing higher education or professional training. This aspect highlights the importance of providing accessible pathways to professional development.
• Practical Experiences: The participant's internship experience emphasized the value of hands-on learning. The distinction she makes between "playing teacher" and actual teaching underscores the transformative role of practical exposure in professional identity formation.
• Isolation in the Workplace: The participant's limited interaction with colleagues during her internship points to potential gaps in fostering collaborative environments within educational settings. This isolation contrasts with the community-based approach promoted in learning communities, emphasizing the need for inclusive professional practices.

These points align with the broader theoretical context of Bernstein’s (2005) ideas on social identity and professional trajectories, offering a deeper understanding of how individual experiences and shared narratives shape collective professional identities.

Participatory Action Research and Discussion Groups

Based on the identified aspects and leveraging the students' participation in the course, the principles of participatory action research were implemented as a methodological strategy. This methodology, applied to the educational field, is characterized by the following elements:

• Focus on everyday practical problems: It prioritizes the challenges experienced by teachers in their daily practice, rather than focusing solely on theoretical problems defined by researchers specialized in academic disciplines.
• Deepening understanding of the problem: It fosters the development of a more detailed diagnosis by teachers regarding the problems they face, increasing their ability to understand the causes and consequences of these issues.
• Reflective stance before action: It establishes that actions aimed at changing the problematic situation should be temporarily suspended until a deeper and more grounded understanding of the practical problem is achieved.
• Situated interpretation of interactions: It analyzes the dynamics from the perspective of those involved in the problematic situation, such as teachers, students, or even between teachers and administrators, to obtain a comprehensive and contextualized view of the issue.

Action research, by considering the situation from the participants' perspective, describes and explains what happens using the everyday language they employ to interpret human actions and social situations of daily life (Elliott, 2005).

In this regard, the primary purpose of the course was to foster deep reflection among active teachers about their professional practice processes. However, achieving this objective on an individual basis proved challenging. During the first ten to twelve sessions of the course, time was dedicated to refining the research problems of each participant. Subsequently, discussion groups were formed based on the thematic proximity of the problems previously identified.

As Marques Rocha and Martins Mafra, cited by Escobar & Escobar (2023), argue, "Discussion groups as part of research with an interactive and participatory action approach fit as a deliberative methodological practice that promotes the emergence of communicative action grounded in open and de-instrumentalized rationality" (p. 4).

The purpose of this strategy was to facilitate peer dialogue around common problems, promoting the exchange of knowledge and experiences. Transversally, this approach also mobilized digital skills throughout the information exchange process. Although the main focus of the course was titled "Teaching," four primary strands were identified, from which subgroups were formed and schematized as follows:

Figure 1. Subgroups formed during the Professional Update Course 2023. UPN 097

The proposal allowed participants to select documents related to their areas of focus, rather than having the instructor predetermine the readings. This approach shifted the course's development toward a dynamic where students proposed texts of interest, while the instructor-advisor guided their relevance and utility.

This methodology fostered greater flexibility and dynamism in constructing the conceptual frameworks needed to theoretically support the final projects. However, in some cases, the volume of information generated by the groups exceeded expectations and the instructor's capacity to review it within the planned two-hour sessions. To address this, supplementary meetings were held in virtual environments, using tools like Google Meet to optimize the review and feedback process.

One of the main strengths of this strategy was the diversity of documents provided by the students, which was leveraged to encourage critical thinking during class discussions. Additionally, participants were encouraged to record their contributions and prepare initial transcriptions. These recordings often revealed progress in their argumentation and, in some cases, were incorporated into the final projects, appropriately articulated and structured.

To reinforce this point, a participant's testimony is shared:

“We joined this program, perhaps without understanding many things. In my case, I had recently completed a high school equivalency exam. It had been a long time since I had studied. When I arrived here, I faced the challenge of reading scientific texts and learning about citations, which was entirely new to me. But we had that support. First, I thank my teachers who were always there for us, guiding us (...) My training gave me confidence, motivation, and increasingly made me feel secure, especially in recognizing my vulnerability. Like the children I work with, we come from different contexts, and this makes us sensitive to learning and teaching. Another thing was that as classmates, we built support networks. We supported and motivated each other, knowing that we are mothers, have work-related issues, and often had to complete assignments late at night. So, every Saturday, every class we attended, we organized ourselves into WhatsApp groups and created a sisterhood” (F, 38).

This testimony supports the observations of Cuello & Álvarez (2024), who emphasized the multidimensional nature of teaching practice and the complex process of developing an academic writing project. The need to optimize time while progressing on the final project amid work tasks, family responsibilities, and professional commitments forces students to devise strategies and explore solutions. In many cases, these solutions rely heavily on information technologies, which become invaluable allies in the process.

In a second phase, after defining the specific problematics of each student and clarifying their analytical objectives, work teams were formed to facilitate the exchange of experiences related to the development of their final projects. These teams served as support networks, enabling the resolution of doubts and horizontal dialogue on topics such as citations, spelling, and the interpretation of documents provided during the course. Simultaneously, the instructor maintained ongoing support, guiding the students through the questions that arose during the process.

This practice aligns with Ioé's (2010) assertion that peer collaboration and knowledge exchange are effective means of enhancing collective learning and fostering greater cohesion within academic communities:

In a discussion group, the conversation continuously constitutes, dissolves, and reconstitutes the bond; non-directivity allows for capturing meaning, not just information. In this context, a procedural logic (centered on the group rather than the script) takes precedence. The open conversational dynamic, prompted by the initial moderation provocation, enables an exploration of how collectives construct meaning through their interrelation dynamics. Although the moderation may have specific "topics to address," the less interventionist and more open the group dynamic, the richer the material offered for analysis (p. 82).

At the end of the course, participants were asked to create a narrative evaluating their experience in the program using a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) format. Voluntarily, some of the ideas expressed in these narratives were shared during group sessions. This exercise was complemented by unstructured interviews conducted with a non-random sample including 80% of the course participants.

One participant provided the following testimony:

"Many women came here: most of us were working mothers. This Bachelor’s Degree in Preschool Education gave us the academic opportunity to prepare ourselves, to professionalize, even within the context we come from. Some had experience, others had many dreams and a strong desire for professionalization, and this program gave us the chance to become part of something, to take on an identity as university students. It was something we might not have planned or thought about, but (...) our own jobs started demanding it from us. I highlight the importance of having warmth in the teacher-student relationship, and I believe that while this is important, it also allows us to internalize that knowledge. For me, my training helped me receive that knowledge with warmth, to begin to think that everything I was doing in my practice, everything I had been doing, had a justification. My experience at UPN allowed me to justify what I do: every action, every plan, everything I used in my classroom had a reason behind it" (F. 36).

This narrative directly ties to the personal experience, emphasizing the importance of warmth in teacher-student relationships and the influence such relationships have on the reception and assimilation of knowledge. It also highlights the crucial role of conscious reflection on one's own teaching practice in the process of developing a professional thesis.

Teacher training involves critical analysis of the curricula in schools where participants conduct their practice, as well as reflection on the values and assumptions underlying everyday situations in educational settings (Mayorga-Fernández et al., 2024; Liston & Zeichner, 2003). In this context, key questions posed during the seminar encouraged reflection, such as: What motivates a person to become a teacher? Who decides what is valid or not in a school? How do these decisions impact professional practice? What aspects of everyday school life should be changed, and which can realistically be modified?

These questions fostered horizontal dialogue aimed at promoting exercises in conceptual construction. Through these dynamics, participants were able to understand and take ownership of conceptual categories such as hidden curriculum, lived curriculum, and reflective practice. These categories were offered as optional tools for constructing the conceptual frameworks of their professional theses, leaving their use to the discretion of each student.

When analyzing another testimony obtained during the interviews, the following reflections emerge:

The way I now connect my training with my teaching practice is by always thinking that I have to speak from reality, from the everyday, from my emotions. If my morning didn’t go well because the traffic was heavy, I might greet my students but also tell them that I feel a bit agitated or upset because of the traffic. I know they will understand because they’ve shared with me that sometimes, on their way to school with their parents, they hear things, even a few words they repeat later. It’s part of what we live, and it’s something we learn from. (...) There’s always someone who teaches you something, and we must approach situations with openness and willingness. We should start implementing what we’ve learned through theories and the life stories we’ve heard. Linking that training allows us to understand students’ needs, uncover their interests, and recognize that we are both learning together (M, E: 38).

This testimony highlights the connection between academic training and its practical application in the classroom, emphasizing the importance of addressing educational experiences from a real, everyday, and emotional perspective to establish authentic bonds with students. The participant mentions how external factors, such as traffic, can influence her mood upon arriving at school, underscoring the need for empathy and mutual understanding between teachers and students.

It stresses the importance of recognizing and valuing students' experiences and emotions while being receptive to their needs and interests. Regarding mutual learning, it emphasizes that both teachers and students become learners in the educational process, where everyone has something to teach and something to learn. This perspective fosters a collaborative approach oriented towards shared growth.

Contribution to Knowledge
The contributions of this study lie in the implementation and analysis of communities of practice as an effective tool for teacher training in professional updating contexts. Evidence was provided on the utility of participatory methodologies to address specific educational issues, promote critical reflection, and facilitate academic production. Additionally, the collaborative approach and the use of technological tools were documented as complementary to traditional strategies, offering a replicable model to enhance both learning processes and the development of teaching competencies in similar training programs.

Limitations
The heterogeneity of the participants' needs made fully personalized attention challenging, which may have affected the depth of guidance in some cases and the study’s final outcomes.

The development of the Professional Updating Program proved to be a meaningful space for building communities of practice among participants. The methodology based on participatory action research allowed everyday challenges to be addressed from a reflective and collaborative perspective. Through horizontal dialogue and the exchange of experiences, students constructed conceptual frameworks that strengthened their theoretical and practical understanding, contributing to the development of their projects.

The results indicated that focusing on the warmth of the teacher-student relationship facilitated a more meaningful appropriation of knowledge and deep reflection on educational practice. Participants emphasized the importance of linking their personal experiences with theory, thereby strengthening their professional identity. This process fostered a sense of community based on empathy, mutual support, and collaboration, essential elements for overcoming challenges related to academic production.

However, limitations related to the teachers' workload and the diversity of group needs were identified, necessitating the use of digital tools as a supplement. Despite these challenges, participant satisfaction and perceived progress evidenced the program’s relevance as a training model.

Finally, building communities of practice in educational contexts proved to be an effective strategy for promoting critical reflection and collaborative learning, strengthening both academic competencies and social cohesion. This experience underscores the need to further explore the implementation of this approach in degree-completion processes and other training environments, recognizing its potential to transform educational practices towards increasingly comprehensive and humanistic models.

Conflicts of Interest: The author declares no conflicts of interest.

Author Contributions:
Chávez Suárez, N. A.: Conceptualization, Formal Analysis, Methodology, Research, Supervision, Validation, Drafting – Original Version, Drafting – Review and Editing.