Semantic and Epistemological Gaps in Teacher Training: Obstacles to Curriculum Transformation in the Digital Age

Abstract

Contemporary education faces a dual structural challenge that hinders curricular transformation in Latin America: the semantic gap, which erroneously equates competencies with skills, talents, capacities, and knowledge; and the epistemological gap, characterized by teacher resistance to integrating systemic thinking, complexity, and curricular transversality. This article presents an integrative framework that articulates both approaches to ground genuine educational reform. Through critical literature review (1985-2025) and analysis of Latin American curricular implementations, we demonstrate that the competency-based approach has devolved into technocratic logic that reduces training to standardized indicators, fragments knowledge, and weakens teacher autonomy. Evidence reveals that 65% of Latin American teachers confuse competencies with isolated skills, while 72% lack training in systemic thinking. We propose the Neurotrivium model—integration of deep reading, reflective writing, and effective orality—as a universal competency that traverses the entire curriculum and constitutes the foundation of any professional competency. The analysis identifies four competency dimensions: life in society, survival, labor techniques, and professional techniques. We conclude that overcoming both gaps requires teacher training programs integrating rigorous conceptual clarification, systemic thinking, and transversal curricular design, prioritizing fundamental linguistic competencies over the technocratic fragmentation that has dominated recent decades