Programa de fortalecimiento de competencias profesionales docentes para la mejora de la calidad del servicio educativo en el Instituto de Educación Superior Pedagógico Público "Santa Cruz"

The problem of teachers' professional competencies and their relationship with the quality of educational services at the Instituto de Educación Superior Pedagógico Público "Santa Cruz", Santa Cruz Province, Cajamarca Region (Peru), was analyzed. Objective: to identify the main gaps in teaching staff competency development and propose a strengthening program aimed at improving the quality of higher teacher education. Methodology: a mixed approach with a descriptive-propositional design was used; a Likert-type questionnaire was applied to a sample of 25 teachers, and an institutional observation guide was used to record pedagogical performance, along with a documentary review of 32 academic sources. Results: 72% of the teaching staff indicated that the institution does not promote their professional growth; deficiencies were also detected in competency-based curricular planning, continuous assessment, and the use of active pedagogical strategies. Conclusions: the implementation of the proposed program, grounded in Burns's (1978) transformational leadership theory and Fiedler's (1984) contingency theory, can significantly contribute to strengthening teaching competencies and, consequently, to the sustained improvement of institutional educational quality; it is recommended to extend the study to other pedagogical institutions in the region to broaden its scope and validation.