Introduction 

The transformation that society has had in the last decades has led to the creation of new challenges of teaching in all educational stages (Barceló, Lopez and Camilli, 2012) and Higher Education has also been included. It is claimed a university capable to give qualified professionals to society, that must be able to deal properly with a labor market characterized by flexibility and mobility. The training of future professionals of education should not only be based on the transmission of knowledge, but also they must be directed towards the development of competencies related to “know”, “know-how” and “being” (Zabala and Arnau, 2007, ANECA, 2005; González and Wagenaar, 2003) so they can continue the process of learning throughout life, as well as being able to teach, communicate knowledge and apply learning in a changing society (Barceló, Lopez and Camilli, 2012; Fish, Sanchez Gonzalez, Martin, Guard et al., 2008). This has created new teaching roles that defend the construction of knowledge by students, placing them in the middle of the teaching-learning process.

In Spain, the adaptation of university education to adequate them in the European Higher Education Area has produced many changes in relation to the educational policies and structures, and university contents (Jimenez Ramos and Avila, 2012). Currently, it is in force the Royal Decree 43/2015, which establishes the organization of official university studies and the general and specific competences that all university students should learn. In the case of the Degree in Primary-School Teaching, the Order ECI/3857/2007 establishes the competencies that the students of the Degree in Primary-School Teaching must acquire during their training period. The aim of the future primary school teachers is to develop the skills and competences that will enable them to exercise this profession in an optimal way. This implies that all Spanish universities are forced to work 12 general competences in the Degree in Primary-School Teaching, regardless of their specialization. However, despite this policy, universities have the autonomy to design 30 ECTS in their syllabus. They can use it to establish the competences that are considered appropriate for this professional profile, as well as a proposal of their own learning plans (Jimenez Ramos Avila, 2012).

Taking into account the needs and social changes, and the current regulations, this study was conducted to analyze the general or transversal competences of the Degree in Primary-School Teaching in the three Autonomous Communities of Spain which have a higher number of universities. Specifically, the similarities and differences in the general competences that each university develops were analyzed in terms of their autonomy. Since there are compulsory competences for all universities, these have not been taken into account in the analysis of the training profile, because they do not offer any relevant information that may enrich this study, since they are present in all syllabus plans.

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