During the last few years, several studies have been developed, dealing with the problems that graduates have to face when trying to incorporate into the labour world. These have been approached from different perspectives, by means of various methodologies, and going deep into different levels of detail. Researches done in this field, together with the high number of specific events that have been held, prove the existing interest in this matter (Vidal, 2003). We summarize here some aspects of a study whose main aim is to analyse the characteristics of the process of incorporation into the labour market of graduates in Pedagogy from the University of Oviedo. The context is that of a reform in the degrees which the Spanish university is taking part in, set out towards the convergence of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Given that these titles should provide graduates with an education which allows them to integrate into the labour market, it is interesting to know how many of them are currently working, and where, and what do they think about the training received. One fundamental theoretical aspect, relating to labour insertion, accounts for competence levels reached by graduates. We focus on transverse competences which graduates are being demanded. In this way, information to basic characteristics of the labour insertion process has been found. On the one hand, we have the importance of educational elements to access work. On the other hand, there is the assessment of the education received, and its usefulness to help reach graduates’ current occupation. In order to rate the degree of importance given to this level reached, twelve educational elements have been studied. Furthermore, the assessment of the educational level and its usefulness has been made upon eighteen elements, grouped in curricular framework and transverse competences.

A descriptive study, based on survey, has been made. The questionaire used to gather information is an adaptation of the one designed by Vidal, López, Pérez y Vieira (2001), with a Likert scale which goes from 1 (minimum) to 5 (maximum). Topics about which this questionnaire collects information are, among others, professional profile, continued training, and education and work. In this paper we show the results of the analysis of the information obtained about “Education and Work”. The questionaire has been handed to 661 Pedagogy graduates from the University of Oviedo, but the final sample consists of 242 graduates. The data collected has been processed through the SPSS statistical program (v. 15.0). Results are grouped into three sets. First of all, information about variables of classification has been analyzed. The study also analyzes scores allocated by graduates about the level of importance of the educational elements to access the current job, using Anova statistical procedure, and a multiple comparisons analysis “post hoc” by Scheffé, to study the level of importance of the university title needed to access job – either in Pedagogy or in any other degree. There had also been analyzed the average scores obtained by subjects about the assessment of the educational level achieved (EL) by graduates in Pedagogy and others. Furthermore, the assessment of the usefulness of the educational level obtained (UT) and the significance of the educational level achieved to incorporate to the current job have been analyzed as well.

To conclude, we present some of the most significant results and conclusions. The results obtained show that the graduates value the education they have received, but less than they value the level of usefulness of the training received. Significant statistical differences have not been found in several variables analyzed in this study, such as the assessment of the educational level or usefulness of this training. This is true for graduates in Pedagogy and in any other field alike. This result lets us to group the former subsamples in order to focus on the analysis of differences between educational level and usefulness. The analysis shows that there are significant differences in almost all of the pairs. Differences are particularly remarkable as regards transverse competences.