Are researching skills taught in the practicum for the degree of early childhood education at Salamanca University?

Resumen

Traditionally, the teaching body carried out tasks related to teaching and education. In the latest decades of the 20th century, however, it was acknowledged they had yet another task; research. Moreover, recently the concept of “skill” was used to describe the goals they aspired to reach. Alongside specific knowledge, its elements were attitudes and values; capabilities and skills. The new role played by teaching bodies includes responsibilities regarding innovation processes. Meanwhile, the result of abundant research (Schön, 1998; Pérez, 1988; Zeichner, 1993: Karmilof-Smith, 1994; Kortaghen, Kessels, Koster, Largerwerf y Wubbels, 2001) vindicates the use of practical knowledge when teaching. Teachers in training need new strategies in order to respond to the demands of teaching how to research, thus improving their performance. This research analyses regulatory documents used in the Practicum course of the Education Department at Salamanca University for the degree of Early Childhood Education. After four years of graduates trained under the “Grado” guidelines, we believe it is only appropriate to review it so as to undergo changes if deemed necessary. We are trying to discover to what extent researching skills were observed in these documents; to ascertain the place these skills hold among the skills attributed to teachers and whether they have displaced the more traditional skills, such as teach and educate. The results prove that researching skills appear in the documents, but they are in a lower proportion than skills such as teaching and educating.