Intercambio de experiencias y aprendizaje horizontal entre extensionistas: Fuente invisibilizada de conocimientos para la práctica

Abstract

The horizontal learning that takes place in the interaction between peers plays a key role in professional performance. In this research, the phenomenon is analyzed in the context of rural extension, using interviews with extension agents from Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala and Uruguay (68 individual and 18 group interviews), using the communities of practice approach. Extension agents exchange knowledge, experiences and jointly develop strategies to solve the challenges of their practice permanently, in different instances. Four interaction dynamics were identified: questions to colleagues, exchanges during planning meetings, dialogues in non-formal spaces, and the analysis on practice during graduate studies. The existence of both specific learnings and other deeper ones that question the way of approaching the practice, and the exchange between peers based on a logic of diversity of opinions and preferences, in contrast to a criterion of truth, are highlighted. Extension institutions should acknowledge informal learning processes among peers and facilitate them.