Francisco Leria DulčićOlivares, Maria SalinasMaria SalinasOlivaresSasso, PatriciaPatriciaSasso2026-07-072026-07-072025BORDON-REVISTA DE PEDAGOGIA, 77(4), 139-157 (2025). https://doi.org/10.13042/bordon.2025.1088530210-59342340-6577https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12740/24616Teaching practice courses represent a unique opportunity for early childhood education students to progressively exercise the competencies acquired throughout their academic journey. At the same time, they represent a formative milestone in the consolidation of professional vocation, with a clear modulatory effect on the emotions that the student experiences as a result of direct work with children. However, studies that characterize the plurality and complexity of the experiences that emerge from these educational environments in early childhood education are needed. OBJECTIVE. To examine the content and the emotional quality of the experiences that, in retrospect, these students evoke after taking a course in teaching practice. METHOD. A number of 246 stories were collected and analyzed following a mixed "backwards" analytical procedure, in which qualitative data inform the quantitative analysis, and then go back to be reinterpreted. RESULTS. A total of 646 thematic categories were identified, grouped into 7 modules of ascending semantic specification and illustrated in a complex network of convergence vs. distributive divergence. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. Thematic content was highlighted regarding the formative impact on students in recognizing their own emotions in educational classroom situations, the vocational strengthening that emerges after transformative experiences with children, especially those that leave an emotional mark over time, and negatively framed experiences recalled with high emotional valence. A brief analysis is conducted regarding the projections and insights offered by network analysis and illustration, as well as the formative milestone represented by the practicum, its relevance, and its role in the trajectory and culmination of the students' educational pathway.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessAffectivityEarly childhood educationUniversity studentsWritten languageAcademic training (ERIC Thesaurus)Articulohttps://doi.org/10.13042/bordon.2025.108853