A Transversality Proposal Evaluable as a Methodology for Teaching Social and Civic Aptitudes: Application and Opinion of Teachers
Author(s):
Arbués Radigales Elena (presenting / submitting) Concepcion Naval Charo Reparaz Abaitua
Conference:
ECER 2012
Network:
03. Curriculum Innovation by Schools and Teachers
Format:
Poster

Session Information

03 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

One area for improving schools is their curriculum (Estebaranz, 1995). In this sense, both the current legislative reality as well as the results of various international studies provide an invitation to contributing, from all areas, to the development of basic aptitudes (Audigier, 2000; Benton el al., 2008; Keating et al., 2009; Kerr et al., 2007; Lutkus and Weiss, 2007). In Spain, concretely, the latest educational reform driven by the Organic Law of Education of 2006 introduced the teaching of aptitudes (preamble, paragraph 41). This involves integrating into the scholastic curriculum aspects relating to the use of information and communication technologies, preparing students to understand the reality in which they live, interact in its midst, know how to communicate in distinct contexts, exercise democratic citizenship, manage and control their own capacities, take on personal projects, etc. (Royal Decree 1631/2006, Annex I).

We believe that the challenge of adapting to the transformation which is presupposed by a teaching methodology which is based not only on knowledge but rather on aptitudes requires consideration of which strategies are most effective in order to carry out this task; in addition to a review of the function of teaching and new ways to frame it.

As indicated in the Royal Decree mentioned above, there does not exist a univocal relationship between the teaching of determined subject areas and the development of certain aptitudes. That is, each aptitude will be attained as a consequence of the overall work of the student in various areas of knowledge.  Now, to work on the same aptitude while teaching different subject areas is, in principle, a reference to transversality.  We believe that working on aptitudes in a transversal manner is an attractive, though risky, option, since it involves organizational and didactic difficulties.  In order to overcome these, we propose:

1º) That each aptitude not necessarily be worked on while teaching every subject matter, but rather only while teaching those most related.

2º) That curricular programming be developed which takes aptitudes into account.

3º) That students be evaluated from the perspective of all the implicated subject areas.

On the other hand, the Organic Law takes into consideration that, in addition to curricular contents, school life should be inspired by the democratic practice which must be developed as part of an education in values, with a transversal character across all school activities (Preamble, paragraph 48). As is logical, this transversal education in values, specifically social and democratic values, should be programmed if it is to be effective.

In this article, we present an evaluable proposal of transversality in order to foster social aptitudes, which we presented to a group of teachers of the third year of secondary education in a school in Zaragoza. This proposal was applied during the 2010-2011 academic year.

Method

While what was predicted was that all subject areas can contribute to the acquisition of the basic aptitudes, on the basis of our proposal we suggest that the social and civic aptitude be worked on in a transversal fashion in three subject areas, in addition to tutorship: education for citizenship; social sciences, geography and history; and religion Catholic. In this way, the contents and social and civic values are especially programmed in these subject areas, and are transversally evaluated. We proposed to the teachers in these areas that they work in coordinated fashion on the contents, attitudes and skills specified so that students might acquire social and citizenship aptitudes. For this purpose, we held an initial meeting in which the professors accepted the challenge of putting the project into practice. And in three later meetings we planned curricular programming and the activities which they would carry out with a group of fifty students. For its development and specification we took into account: the directives of the official curriculum; the educational project of the school; and a proposal for the education in social aptitudes which would impact the key aspects of the development of communication, participation and social action (Naval, 2009).

Expected Outcomes

We expected that working on this aptitude in a transversal fashion, as we understand it, would bring with it the following benefits: - The overlapping of curricular content would be avoided by working on the most closely related subject areas. Thus, for example, teaching certain contents in the context of the social sciences avoids the necessity to repeat them when teaching the course on education for citizenship; in this way, the latter course will have more time to focus on other aspects. - On the other hand, we considered the effectiveness and the importance of working on and focusing on the same attitudes and values from the perspective of different areas and different teachers. - The fact that there was a single evaluation of the aptitude guaranteed more objective and real grading of the degree of acquisition of the aptitude by the students. The professors also performed an evaluation of our proposal, in which they considered whether evaluable transversality was an effective method for teaching aptitudes. Difficulties with the proposal were evaluated as having less to do with following the teaching program, and more to do with motivating the students to participate in the proposed activities.

References

Audigier, F. (2000). Basic Concepts and Core Competencies for Education for Democratic Citizenship. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Benton, T., Cleaver, E., Featherstone, G., Kerr, D., Lopes, J. and Whitby, K. (2008). Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study (CELS): sixth annual report. Young people´s civic participation in and beyond school: attitudes, intentions and influences (DCSF Research Report o52). London: DCSF. Estebaranz, A. (1995). Didáctica e innovación curricular. Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla. Keating, A., Kerr, D., Lopes, J., Featherstone, G. and Benton, T. (2009). Embedding Citizenship Education (CE) in Secondary School in England (2002-2008): Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study (CELS): seventh annual report. London: DCSF. Kerr, D., Lopes, J., Nelson, J., White, K., Cleaver, E. and Benton, T. (2007). Vision versus Pragmatism: Citizenship in the Secondary School Curriculum in England. Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study: fifth annual report (DfES Research Report 845). London: DfES. Ley 2/2006, de 3 de mayo, de Educación (BOE nº 106, de 4 de mayo de 2006). Lutkus, A. D. and Weiss, A. R. (2007). The Nation´s Report Card: Civics 2006 (NCES 2007-476). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Naval (2009). Educación de la sociabilidad. Pamplona: Eunsa. Royal Decree 1631/2006, of December 29, which establishes the minimal curricular requirements corresponding to Obligatory Secondary Education (ESO) (BOE number 5, of January 5, 2007).

Author Information

Arbués Radigales Elena (presenting / submitting)
University of Navarra
Education
Pamplona
Concepcion Naval
University of Navarra
Education
Pamplona
Charo Reparaz Abaitua
Universidad de Navarra
Departamento de Educación
Pamplona

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