Jesús Manso Ayuso

Competencias clave como tendencia de la política educativa supranacional de la Unión Europea

The key competences proposed by the European Union are one of the most important education policies stemming from the work done by this supranational organization, first, because the key competences measure has a real impact on the educational policies of Member States and, secondly and more importantly, because this new educational approach aims to respond more adequately to the main challenges of contemporary society (something that other international organizations and institutions have been insisting on for years). Analysis of the original EU documents on this topic provides much food for thought that has only rarely been reflected in educational, academic and political discussions. This paper offers a thoughtful synthesis of the concept and implications of competence-based learning in general and the key competences in particular. Placing this new approach within the framework of today’s society and the lifelong learning approach is the first objective the authors propose; this would facilitate a deeper understanding of the competence-based learning approach, its significance and its relevance and above all would help to overcome the widespread idea in education that the competence-based approach involves no major changes from the status quo. The authors warn again pedagogical idealism: There are risks and challenges in this new educational proposal that must be considered. Altogether, the authors argue that we must not waste any further opportunities to really adjust our educational system to competence-based learning and, above all, the acquisition of key competences by all citizens of the European Union at the end of their compulsory education.

Valoración del Máster de Formación de Profesorado de Educación Secundaria: estudio de casos en dos universidades

The Ley Organica de Educacion of 2006 provides a pre-service training model change for secondary teachers, among its main modifications. Thus, it now proposes to replace the Curso de Aptitud Pedagogica (CAP) with a new degree the master level. This measure ends to a current training model that has been in force for almost forty years. This change had been proposed previously, in 1990 and in 2002, with LOGSE and LOCE, respectively, but they did not get to be started until nowadays. The relevant moment that has involved the implementation of Master of secondary teachers’ education requires adequate monitoring and oriented to progressive improvement. This paper tries to assess the implementation of the Master in Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and in Universidad Pontificia Comillas. We have chosen a methodology based in program evaluation with the case study method. This approach has led to the implementation of document analysis, interviews with key informants from universities and satisfaction surveys to main players and audiences (students, teachers and professional mentors). The results allow identifying the strengths and difficulties in the implementation of the Master in his first two academic years. Between these elements are the weight of the theoretical and the practical phases, sense of Practicum, the professional identity and competences acquiring. Results allow identifying the strengths and difficulties in the process of the Master. They are collected and analyzed in the final section intended for the discussion.