Analysis Of Student Teaching Plans In The Spanish Teacher Education Programmes

Session Information

10 SES 09 B, Lesson Organisation

Paper Session

Time:
2014-09-04
11:00-12:30
Room:
B223 Sala de Aulas
Chair:
Judith Harford

Contribution

We are increasingly convinced that becoming a teacher and learning to teach is a complex process, plenty of uncertainties, claiming the construction of different kinds of knowledge, skills and attitudes that will cope with the variety of functions that currently comprises the teaching profession.

In recent decades, the expectations on the training of teachers have increased both qualitatively and quantitatively. Many countries have made educational reform processes and, particularly, that have made substantial changes in teacher training, both extending the pre-certification period, and substantially modifying the training programmes.

Specifically, the Spanish universities have suffered from a deep reform of the curriculum from the regulations developed in the framework of the European Higher Education. These changes have affected the structure of the university degrees and their configuration of their contents, which must respond to two premises: to respond to the requirements of the labour market and to be competence-based.

The reform of the curricula of teacher training conducted throughout the Spanish universities has been a major review of the learning components and, in particular of the Student Teaching, which has undergone changes in terms of duration, place in the programme, meaning and purposes, etc.

But beyond the legal framework established and the possibilities provided by the socio- cultural and economic situation, the responsibility of the plans design has been assigned to the teaching teams at each university who have taken the preparation of several teacher education planning: from the programme reports which had to be made for their approval by the Quality Accreditation agencies , to other documents with a more institutional and organizational character, which specifies the what, how , when, where , why and what about the training of future teachers who undertake studies for being a primary or secondary school teacher.

Therefore, the Student Teaching is a good example to assess and value the training proposals, and when unveiling the reasons behind their design, the conceptual substrate that covers (implicitly) the training program will come out. In this sense, the analysis of the Student Teaching is an interesting exercise of inquiry, both regarding its meaning as a training component, and its importance in the overall curriculum. These are some of the reasons that have led us in the study of this component in the new proposals for teacher education.
Specifically, and among others, we set the following objectives:

  • To retrieve and systematize the features defined for the field of Student Teaching in the Reports of the Early Childhood Education and the Primary and Secondary Teacher Master’s Programmes.
  • To know the plans, programs and agreements, as well as any other documents produced in each of the Spanish universities for curricular, organizational and institutional development in the subject of Student Teaching.
  • To identify the components, phases and agents found in the Student Teaching plans in the before mentioned programmes.

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Method

The purpose of this project was to carry out an analysis of the Student Teaching plans and other documents that were elaborated for the development of this component of the teacher training curriculum, designed by the Spanish universities following the guidelines of the current regulations and from what it is already stipulated in the Reports of the Primary Education Teacher and the Secondary Education Teacher (including Upper-Secondary, Vocational, and Language Teaching Education) Master’s Programmes. This study has analyzed the Student Teaching of 88 Spanish universities that offer the Undergraduate Programme in Early Childhood and Primary Education, and 66 that provide the Secondary Education Teacher (including Upper-Secondary, Vocational, and Language Teaching Education) Master’s Programme. This research project was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education. The analysis was made on the basis of the information available at the Spanish universities websites. For the sake of better security, data collected were sent to those responsible for each centre so they could verify them and, if necessary, refine, extend or complete the information. A directory was elaborated with all necessary data from the centres which provided teacher training qualifications in Spanish universities, as well as a Guide on the documentation needed to collect and the topics that were intended to respond for research purposes. Due to the big amount of data gathered, and that which was provided by the universities themselves, we considered essential to create a tool to systematize the information. Thus, we used an Excel sheet for each programme, in which we registered all the data from the schools analyzed, as well as the blocks, categories, and codes previously elaborated were. Data for each programme were segregated, and systematically organized in blocks, categories and established codes. The considered blocks were: rationale, design, organization and management, agents, evaluation and resources. To get the data separately allowed us, firstly, to deepen in each programme and, second, to glimpse a comparative analysis between the different programmes.

Expected Outcomes

Some of the most significant results were: a) High expectations are perceived with regard to what the Student Teaching will mean the Practicum for the development of the programme and for professional learning. b) There is a bet for considering the Student Teaching as an experience that allows students to approach to the reality of the classroom both critically and reflectively. c) A dialectical relationship between theory and practice is postulated and it is said that the two should be complementary, so that each student should be able to start learning to be a teacher and building their own teaching style. d) There is a choice for a practical and critical teacher profile. e) The type and scope of the objectives, content and competencies that are specified in the Student Teaching planning documents show the big picture of learning that are expected to be fostered by the Student Teaching. f) The vast majority of universities identify three phases in the Student Teaching: observation, collaboration and autonomous performance. g) From the total amount of universities offering Early Childhood and Primary Teacher Education, 86 % offer their students the option of doing their Student Teaching in schools. The second choice (40%) is offered in other educational institutions, and the option less offered is the possibility of doing it in international settings (just 20%). h) One of the aspects with more diverse results in this study is the timing of the credits of Student Teaching: both in terms of the distribution between the courses of the programmes, and related to the total amount of credits of the programme as a whole.

References

Buitink, J. (2009). What and how do student teachers learn during school-based teacher education.Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 1, 118-127. Coffey, H. (2010).?They taught me?: The benefits of early community-based field experiences in teacher education.Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 2, 335-342. Esteve, J. M. (2006). La profesión docente en Europa: perfil, tendencias y problemática. La formación inicial. Revista de Educación, 340, 19-40. Feiman-Nemser, S. (2008). Teacher learning. How do teachers learn to teach?. En Cochran-Smith, M; Feiman-Nemser, S. e Mcintyre, D.J. (Eds.). Handbook of Research on Teacher Education. Enduring Questions in Changing Contexts. Nueva York: Routledge, 697-705. Ferrier-Kerr, J.L. (2009). Establishing professional relationships in practicum settings.Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 6, 790-797. Gonzalez Sanmamed , M. (1994). Aprender a enseñar: mitos y realidades. A Coruña, Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidade da Coruña. González Sanmamed, M. (1995). Formación docente: perspectivas para el desarrollo del conocimiento y la socialización profesional. Barcelona, PPU. Gonzalez Sanmamed, M. (2001). ¿Qué se aprende en el Practicum? ¿Qué hemos aprendido en el practicum?. En Iglesias, L., Zabalza, M. A., Cid, A. y Raposo, M. (Coords.): Desarrollo de competencias personales y profesionales en el Practicum. Lugo, Unicopia, 61-97. Gonzalez Sanmamed, M. (2011). El practicum en la formación docente: mitos, discursos y realidades. En Ramírez, S. (Coord.). El Practicum en Educación Infantil, Primaria y Máster de Secundaria. Tendencias y buenas prácticas. Madrid, EOS, 15-29 Gonzalez Sanmamed, M. y, Fuentes Abeledo, E. (2011). El Practicum en el aprendizaje de la profesión docente. Revista de Educación, 354, 47-70. Molina Ruiz, E. (2008). Analysis of the system of practicum in spanish universities. EuropeanJournal of Teacher Education,4, 339-366. Nilson, P. y Driel, J. (2010). Teaching together and learning together. Primary science student teachers?and their mentors?joint teaching and learning in the primary classroom. Teaching and Teacher Education. Vol. 26, No. 6, 2010, pp. 1309-1318. Tejada, J. (2006). El practicum por competencias: implicaciones metodológico-organizativas y evaluativas. Bordón, 58, 403-422. Tiana, A. (2011). Políticas de formación del profesorado y mejora de los sistemas educativos: algunas reflexiones a partir de la experiencia española. Revista Fuentes, 11, 13-27. Zabalza, M.A. (2011). El Practicum en la formación universitaria: estado de la cuestión. Revista de Educación, 354, 21-46. Zeichner, K. (2010). Nuevas epistemologías en formación del profesorado. Repensando las conexiones entre las asignaturas del campus y las experiencias de prácticas en la formación del profesorado en la universidad?. En Revista Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 68 (24,2), 123-149.

Author Information

Mercedes Gonzalez Sanmamed (presenting / submitting)
University of Coruña, Spain
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Open University of Catalunya, Spain
University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain

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