The Value of Solidarity in Communication Curricula at the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia

Abstract

Higher education as well as basic education, is committed to teaching the common values of society, which are the link that regulates their coexistence, affecting people’s quality of life. One of those values, solidarity, is called to enhance human being’s nature as an intelligent system, favoring the environment to become decisive in human coexistence, therefore it is convenient and relevant in pedagogy to examine how such concept becomes evident in curriculum by means of teachers from an institution that is recognized for its profile in the work of cooperation. The research is developed in the Cooperative University of Colombia, by the Faculty of Education in the Social Communication Program, understanding that the professional in this discipline is trained to generate messages that lead to social interaction within the public-private sphere. The study’s objectives are to determine the presence, characteristics, management and relationships of the concept of solidarity in the contents of the institutional curricula in Social Communication; it was carried out under an interpretative paradigm, following the logic of the qualitative and using the methodology of content analysis. The study involved 135 students and 4 teachers from the area, a survey and an interview were used as instruments. As a main result, the investigation made it possible to show that the concept of solidarity is present in the construction of the analyzed curricula, but not as a substantial element of an institutional project; for teachers, solidarity -more than apprehended- is assimilated within the practical scenarios and for students there is no strong presence of this value under the characteristics of being solidary. It is recommended that the term solidarity should be present precisely in the micro curricula, as part of the solidarity profile of the institution. In the area of social communication, it was evident that solidarity is necessary from the reciprocity in the transmission of messages, in the elaboration of works with the community from the interaction and from the perspectives that overcome the concepts of issuers and recipients by social subjects. Therefore, to relate communication to pedagogy in the teaching of values must be a disciplinary interaction, since both constitute collective action.