Teaching Skills of Teachers at the University of Valencia: The Perception of Students
Author(s):
Cruz Pérez Pérez (submitting) Victoria Vázquez (presenting) Inmaculada López Francés Maria Jose Sospedra-Baeza
Conference:
ECER 2012
Network:
22. Research in Higher Education
Format:
Poster

Session Information

22 SES 05.5 PS, General Poster Exhibition

General Poster Session during Lunch

Time:
2012-09-19
12:30-14:00
Room:
FCEE - Poster Exhibition Area
Chair:

Contribution

This paper presents data from research conducted at the University of Valencia in analyzing the perception of students about teaching skills of teachers in the area of Social and legal Sciences.

 The study included a total of 409 university students from 10 different degrees of the University of Valencia who were reduced to 389 after data cleaning. The 72.8% were girls and the 27.2% remaining were boys aged between 18 and 55 years (mean: 22.01, SD: 5.3).

The 26.22% were students of Business Administration and Law, the 23.08%  were students of Education, the 14.65% were students of Social Work, 10.8%were students of Primary Education Teaching specialization: the 6.94% were students of Master in Secondary Education A, the 5.66% were students of Social Education, the 4.63% were students of Law, the 3.86% were Mixed: University Extension, the 3345 % were students of Master in Secondary Education B and 2.83% were students of Education Early Childhood Education Teaching specialization.

To conduct this research we used the questionnaire "Assessment of the competencies of university teachers", built and validated by the research team, with a sample of 154 students from the University of Valencia (Spain), (Pérez, C. et al., in press).
The questionnaire has 32 items, which are the most significant competencies that we believe teachers must have in the practice of university teaching. The competences are grouped into four scales of 8 items each:
 A. Scientific competencies,
 B. Methodological/ technical competences,
 C. Social/ participatory competences
 D. Personal Competencies

The assessment given by the subjects of the sample to each of the items, regardless of its scale has allowed us to know that the competence they consider most relevant for the teacher in the teaching / learning process is "Be correct and respectful in the treatment with students "(1772 points), followed by "Fostering a classroom climate based on relational respect for others and freedom of expression, constantly using dialogue and communication "(1734 points).
At the opposite pole, the item rated as less important in the teaching / learning process has been "Keeping a careful personal image (clothing, hair, etc..)" (1183 points.) Catches the attention also the fact that the two competences relating to knowledge and educational use of  new technology of information and communication in all programs are analyzed as the least valued, albeit in a context of high valuation of all competences.

Method

The questionnaire responses are performed on a Likert scale of five anchor points. The maximum score for each item is 1945 points and the minimum is 389, and they let us know the value that students attach to each teacher competence and compare them with others. The questionnaire also asked students to rank by importance the four blocks of competences from one to four. When dealing with ordinal variables to analyze the differences in the order of importance given by the subjects to each of the four blocks of competencies, the nonparametric Friedman test has been applied. χ2 (3) = 44.82857143 value was obtained, P <0.001; what informs us that there were significant differences in the order given to the four blocks of competences by the subjects, being personal competences the most important considered ones and methodological/ technical competences the least important ones. To determine the existence of differences among the remaining blocks were applied non-parametric Wilcoxon test adjusting type I error by Bonferroni.

Expected Outcomes

The 32 competencies tested obtain a high value by students, none of them were consider irrelevant to the practice of teaching. This finding indicates, as already reflected in the pilot study, that questionnaire items are carefully selected and are representative of all knowledge, skills, attitudes and abilities that teachers must possess to address the teaching / learning process. The second relevant data to the educational activity is that of the four blocks of competencies, students consider personal competences of teachers the most important ones for their teaching / learning process (12 733 points), followed by scientific competencies (12,500 points). The methodological/ technical competences (12 377 points) and Social/ participatory ones (12,341) score very similar. This fact, within a context of high value to all proposed competences, indicates that personal and human factors in teachers such as communication and relationship skills, values, emotional balance, respect for others, responsibility, able to make decisions, knowledge of oneself, and so on are priorities for students, even above the scientific capacity of teachers.

References

Álvarez-Rojo, V. (2009). Perfiles docentes para el espacio europeo de educación superior (EEES) en el ámbito universitario español. Relieve. Revista electrónica de investigación y evaluación educativa 15(1). De Ketele, J.M. (2003). La formación didáctica y pedagógica de los profesores universitarios: luces y sombras. Revista de Educación, 331, 143-169. De Pablos Pons, J. y Vill aci ervos Moreno P. (2005). El Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior y Las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación. Percepciones y Demandas del Profesorado. Revista de Educación, 337, 99-124. Escudero Escorza, T. (2003). La formación pedagógica del profesorado universitario vista desde la enseñanza disciplinar. Revista de Educación, 331, 101-121. EURYDICE (2002). Competencias clave. Un concepto en expansión dentro de la educación general obligatoria.www.euridyce.org. Garagorri, X. (2007). Curriculum basado en competencias: aproximación al estado de la cuestión. Aula de Innovación educativa, 161, pp.47-55. García, S.; Molina, D.; Lozano, M. y Herrera, F. (2007). Tests no paramétricos de comparaciones múltiples con algoritmo de control en el análisis de algoritmos evolutivos: Un caso de estudio con los resultados de la sesión especial en optimización continúa CEC’2005. Actas de las I Jornadas sobre Algoritmos Evolutivos y Metaheurísticas JAEM’07. Zaragoza, 12 y 13 de Septiembre de 2007. Gónzalez, A. y otros (2011). Aprendizaje por competencias en la educación obligatoria. Brief. Valencia Llorente Cejudo, M. C. (2008). Aspectos fundamentales de la formación del profesorado en TIC. Revista de medios y educación, 31, 121-130. Méndez Cea, C.(2009) El perfil del buen profesor en entornos universitarios multiculturales. Valoraciones por parte de alumnos españoles y norteamericanos. Miscelanea Comillas. 67(131): 325-367. Moyá. J.;Luengo, F. (Coord) (2011). Teoría y práctica de las competencias básicas. Graó. Barcelona. Tribó, G. (2008). El nuevo perfil profesional de los profesores de Secundaria. Educación XXI, 11, pp.183-209. Zabala, A. y Arnau, L. (2007): Cómo aprender y enseñar competencias: 11 ideas clave. Graó. Barcelona.

Author Information

Cruz Pérez Pérez (submitting)
University of Valencia
Theory of education
Valencia
Victoria Vázquez (presenting)
university of Valencia
Valencia
Inmaculada López Francés
University of Valencia
Theory of education
Valencia
Maria Jose Sospedra-Baeza
Universidad de Valencia
Psicología
Valencia

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