The Importance Of Key Competence Learning To Learn Seen By Teachers In Early Childhood Education

Author(s):

Beatriz María Beatriz Páramo Iglesias(submitting)Raposo Rivas Manuela(presenting)Esther Martínez-Figueira

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 11 C, Perspectives on Competence Development in Teacher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-04

17:15-18:45

Room:

B226 Sala de Aulas

Chair:

Tony Brown

Contribution

The dichotomy between theory and practice in Early Childhood Education isn’t a new topic, but nowadays pleading this interaction makes us place ourselves in a conception of the teacher as reflective professional (Mérida, 2012). The European educational framework organized by key competences, makes one of them a perfect symbiosis of that union, the competence of Learning to Learn. It arises in connection with the reply to the direct question that the Project Definition and Selection of Competencies (DeSeCo) of OCDE: “what competences we need for a personal, social and economic well-being?”

This means that Learning to Learn has a metacompetencial character and underlies all others. Defining this competence is complicated because of the numer of shades in which you can pay attention and the trasverse nature of it. However, it is considered a key competence between basics skills. This explains why it is one of the eight competence contained in “Recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning”, which was approved by the European Parliament and the Council in December 2006 (European Parliament, 2006).

In this regard, Department of Education, Universities and Research (2012) in Basque Country, has been collected a number of international iniciatives focues on key competences for the last years like as Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD-OCDE) and Swiss Federal Statical Office prompted the mentioned project DeSeCo (Definition and Selection of Competences, 2003), Eurydice (2002) provide information about the competences, European Commission (2004) submitted a proposal for the recognition on key competencies, UNESCO (2002) developed a report on competence for lifelong in education for all: Pisa studies (OECD, 2004) announced a report on problem solving for the tomorrow; University of Helsinki, participant of LEARN project (“Life as learning”) has organized several studies on learning to learn...

Among others, this list of planned word confirms the importance of this key competence. We believe that it comes from teacher, and arises and takes shape towards the students. Specifically, in the kindergarten some skills of learning to learn and the regulation of learning begin to emerge in children (Rodríguez, Ortiz y Blanco, 2012; Muñoz, 2004). Describing and knowing their beliefs about childhood, the theoretical framework in which their teaching practices is done and needs to learn to learn in their students, could shape the first level of reflection and analysis of the competence at a stage where contextualized studies are still emerging. It is necessary starting from the theoretical and ideological model of teachers in kindergarten, of a few teachers who wonder how their students learn to learn and how to teach them to learn how to learn (Freire, 2008).

The first results of the analysis of an experience are presented, based on an experience that aims to contextualize the phenomenon of Learning to Learn in Kindergarten and to bring the formative dimension of assessment beliefs (Martínez, 2012) in order to analyze other innovative and involved elements. It is about studying:

Which is the perception that teachers of Early Childhood Education have on the children currently?
What is the level of theoretical knowledge that teachers have in relation to the framework of Learning to learn and their perception about it.
What are the needs that these teachers face in this classrooms about Learning to Learn.

Method

The methodology used is a descriptive observational study, with a qualitative nature that enables the analysis of teaching conceptions from a situational, collaborative and evaluative perspective (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2011). The sample is a case study formed by four teachers of Early Childhood Education from a school located in northwestern Spain. A non-probability sampling was performed, according to criteria of collaboration and participation in studies and training courses in relation to this subject. Data collection aims to create an environment of continuous and friendly reflection, using some investigative techniques that would favor the approach (Martínez, 2012) for example, in the look of games, dialogues, debates and dynamics. To find out ideas and perceptions about childhood, oral narrative technique was used by a dynamic drawing, subsequent recorded narration and content analysis of both. It consisted of metaphorically caricature of child`s parts of the body, so each teacher drew a different part in a sheet, without seeing the other parties that their workmates had drawn earlier, to later describe the totality of each drawing. To find out previous ideas on the subject of the study, a discussion group was used through dynamic key concepts. It consisted on the distribution of different terms related to themes of the discussion group among different categories (learning to learn, attention to diversity, skills, strategies, metacognition, development education, inclusive education, ICT, Special Needs Education, ICT for diversity) as a group, and then individually on adding new concepts and meanings in each of these categories. Finally, to work on skills and learning processes, a role-playing was carried out with an excersise of the test D.N CAS (Deaño, 2005), to present and raise awareness of different cognitive processes, skills and areas of Learning to Learn; and a semistructured interview later in which each teacher reflected about the learning needs of their students. The use of this techniques would allow that teachers develop and learn about cognitive and metacognitive strategies in order to evaluate their practice (González and González, 2007) in terms of Learning to Learn.

Expected Outcomes

In view of the data and content analysis so far, they close to static nature, rigidity, slow mobility, resulting in lack of autonomy and self-esteem, as some of the categories observed in their description and productions. The teacher also point out the difficulties of attention, assimilation of information, communication joint to listened, and the importance of emotions in these years old. Both in speech and drawing, the new technologies and visual information are observed, providing a reflect on their chances in relation to the competence Learning to Learn. Concerning teachers` approach to the theoretical framework, more meaningful categories were as follows, corresponding to the following terms: • Learning to learn: skills, competence, attention, knowledge building, learning styles, planning. Concepts such as implication, purpose and motivation were added. • Attention to diversity: rhythms, learning opportunities, learning disability, attention to diversity, diversity. It also was defined based on need, values and individualized education. • Capacity: attitude, self-control, skills, adding competence and possibility. • Strategy: organize, procedures, resources and motivation, along with new terms such as way and guide. Metacognition, development and inclusive education presented terms as cognitive processes and educational activities, values and understandings, and community acceptance and terms, respectively. Terms such as ICT, Special Needs Education, ICT for diversity presented more difficulties. This analysis supports the difference language but adequate between theory and practice (Coll, 2010). Finally, the studies in Learning to Learn in these early ages (3-5 years) point out the importance and the need of promoting autonomy and communication (Sáiz, Carbonero and Flores, 2010) at the age of three. The information processing and competences (Rueda, Posner and Rothbart, 2005) and strategies to learn in four years old. Self-esteem and social leadership (Cheng, 2011) in the last academic course at the age of five.

References

Cheng, Y. C. (2011). Towards the 3rd Wave School Leadership. Revista de Investigación Educativa, 29 (2), 253-275. Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (2011). Research Methods in Education. Nueva York: Routledge. Coll, C. (2010). La centralidad de la práctica y la dualidad del conocimiento teórico/conocimiento práctico. Infancia y Aprendizaje, 33 (2), 151-159. Deaño, M. (2005). D.N.CAS. Ourense: Gersam. Departamento de Educación, Universidades e Investigación (2012): Competencia para aprender a aprender. Gobierno del País Vasco. http://www.ediagnostikoak.net/edweb/cas/materiales-informativos/ED_marko_teorikoak/Aprender_a_aprender.pdf DeSeCo (2005): La definición y selección de competencias clave.. 20 pág. http://www.deseco.admin.ch/bfs/deseco/en/index/03/02.parsys.78532.downloadList.94248.DownloadFile.tmp/2005.dscexecutivesummary.sp.pdf (en castellano). EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2004). Implementation of «Education and Training 2010» Work Programme. Working Group B: Key Competences. Progress Report November 2004. Bruxelles: European Commission. European Parliament (2006). Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning. http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:394:0010:0018:en:PDF. EURYDICE (2002). El sistema educativo español. Informe Nacional 2001. http://www.eurydice.org/Eurybase/frameset_eurybase.html Freire. S. (2008). Um olhar sobre a inclusão. Revista de Educação, 16 (1), 5-20. González, R.M. y González, V. (2007). Diagnóstico de necesidades y estrategias de formación docente en las universidades. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación, 43 (6), 1-14. Martínez F. (2012). Procedimiento para el estudio de las prácticas docentes. Revisión de la literatura. RELIEVE. , 18 (1), 1-22. Mérida, R., Gónzalez, M.E. & Olivares, A. (2012). RIECU: Una experiencia de innovación en el Prácticum I del Grado de Infantil de la Universidad de Córdoba. Profesorado, 16 (3), 447-468. Muñoz, J. (2004). Enseñanza – aprendizaje en estrategias metacognitivas en niños de educación infantil. Burgos: Universidad de Burgos. OECD (2004): Reviews of National Policies for Education. Denmark: Lessons from PISA 2000. París: OECD. Rodríguez, S., Ortiz, L. & Blanco, M.W. (2012). Percepciones del profesorado de Educación Infantil sobre sus propuestas de enseñanza en aprendizaje autorregulado. Profesorado, 16 (1), 143.164. Rueda, M.R., Posner, M.I. & Rothbart, M.K. (2005) The development of executive attention: contributions to the emergence of self regulation. Developmental Neuropsychology, 28, 573-594. Sáiz, M.C., Carbonero, M.Á. & Flores, V. (2010). Análisis del procesamiento en tareas tradicionalmente cognitivas y de teoría de la mente en niños de 4 y 5 años. Psicothema, 22 (4), 772-777. UNESCO (2002). La UNESCO y la Cumbre Mundial sobre la Sociedad de la Información. Paris: UNESCO.

Author Information

Beatriz María Beatriz Páramo Iglesias (submitting)

University of Vigo

department for didactic, school organization and research methods

Lugo

Raposo Rivas Manuela (presenting)

University of Vigo

Education

Ourense

Esther Martínez-Figueira

University of Vigo

Didáctica, Organización Escolar y Métodos de Investigación-Fac. CC Educación y del Deporte (Campus Pontevedra)

Pontevedra

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