Mirta Yolima Gutiérrez-Ríos Oscar Orlando Porras Rodríguez
This study examines the need to professionalize military teachers in the Colombian Army through the creation of an undergraduate program in Military Pedagogy. Military instructors, including officers, non-commissioned officers, and civilian personnel, currently perform teaching functions without a consolidated career structure or sufficient preparation in educational sciences. Existing programs, such as the Instructor Preparation Course and the Military Teacher Course, provide short-term training, but remain limited in pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, formative research, and responsible educational technology. Using a grounded theory approach, the study analyzed surveys, interviews, current institutional training courses, and international experiences in military education. The findings reveal limited knowledge of educational principles, reliance on traditional teaching approaches, lack of bachelor-level teacher preparation, and absence of clear professional standards, certification, and career pathways. The study also highlights the distinctive nature of military education, where structured environments, operational objectives, discipline, leadership, and varied learner backgrounds require specialized pedagogical preparation. In response, the article proposes a bachelor’s degree in Military Pedagogy integrating pedagogy, didactics, curriculum, assessment, formative research, military sciences, ethics, leadership, communication skills, and artificial intelligence as a complementary pedagogical competence. AI is included to support lesson planning, controlled training scenarios, formative feedback, assessment, and differentiated instruction, while preserving instructor judgment, doctrinal accuracy, ethical responsibility, and information security. The study concludes that undergraduate training is necessary and feasible for strengthening military education.