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In recent years, international and national test results have been unfavorable for Mexico's educational system, turning the spotlight on teachers' quality. This problem has also occurred in the public teaching entrance examination and calls into question the efficiency of the initial training provided by Mexican normal schools. This paper intends to study the relationship between a student community's social origin and academic performance in three normal school sites in Sonora. It analyzes a cohort of 268 students through the five cultural capital types that, as variables, contribute to exploring academic performance. Besides, it determines the social origin of the students through K-means clustering. Through an analysis of the Pearson correlation coefficient, the results show that the student's family, school, and economic capitals are associated with academic performance. Afterward, a linear regression analysis was carried out where the highest Beta value was for the school capital variable. In conclusion, in a framework of social inequality, the school and economic capitals take part in the educational achievement of students who are being trained as teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the independent work that, in its educational dimension, has been investigated by several authors, making possible to define it in many ways; is traditionally identified with the activity performed by the student to learn independently within or outside the classroom with the teacher's guidance or not. This paper overcomes this notion and proposes a concept that clarifies the role of the teacher in charge of the direction of the student self-activity. With the theoretical and experiences systematization defending the student's active role in learning and developed concepts on independent study and work, we made a historical periodization. Finally, we propose a suitable concept to university context, that under an approach on process, allows a dynamic teaching and student-centered learning, greater flexibility in the training process and to break with educational traditionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]