Degree in Pedagogy

Competencies

Competencies are the set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be acquired by students throughout the degree, aimed at preparing them for professional activities.

  • A pedagogue is a professional who has expert knowledge of education.
  • A pedagogue is a professional who understands and contextualizes current educational and training systems within the international context, especially in the countries and initiatives of the European Union.
  • The pedagogue is a professional who knows the fundamentals of educational research.
  • The pedagogue is a professional capable of performing the guidance function, which involves both educational and professional guidance, as well as working with families.
  • The pedagogue is a professional capable of addressing diversity and special educational needs.
  • The pedagogue is a professional capable of performing advisory functions.
  • The pedagogue is an agent of social change.
  • The pedagogue is an agent of educational change.
  • The pedagogue is an agent capable of exercising educational leadership. Leadership and pedagogical support for curricular and educational development in schools.
  • The pedagogue is a professional capable of responding to educational challenges.
  • A pedagogue is a professional capable of addressing the educational challenges posed by Information and Communication Technologies.
  • The pedagogue is a professional capable of addressing training processes.
  • A teacher is a professional capable of intervening with minors in risky situations in the school environment, through legal measures, etc.
  • A pedagogue is a professional capable of addressing problems related to education and development cooperation.
  • A pedagogue is a professional capable of addressing adult education and lifelong learning.
  • The pedagogue is a professional committed to a code of ethics.

The competencies associated with the Pedagogy degree derive, first and foremost, from the professional profile we have identified, but also from the graduate's status as a university graduate. Therefore, we must identify specific competencies (disciplinary and professional) and others that are common, general, generic, or transversal to any university graduate.

  1. That students have demonstrated knowledge and understanding in an area of study that builds on the foundation of general secondary education and is typically at a level that, while supported by advanced textbooks, also includes some aspects that involve knowledge from the forefront of their field of study.
  2. That students know how to apply their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional manner and possess the skills typically demonstrated through the development and defense of arguments and problem-solving within their area of study.
  3. That students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (normally within their area of study) to make judgments that include reflection on relevant social, scientific or ethical issues.
  4. That students can transmit information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialized and non-specialized audiences.
  5. That students have developed the learning skills necessary to undertake further studies with a high degree of autonomy.

The EU, through the Tunning project, established a set of generic competencies that every university graduate should possess to a greater or lesser degree, depending on their studies, and which could serve as a reference framework in this chapter.

Tunning Project (2002): Transversal or generic competences in the new EHEA

  1. Ability to analyze and synthesize
  2. Ability to apply knowledge to practice
  3. Planning and time management
  4. Basic knowledge of the area of study
  5. Basic knowledge of the profession
  6. Oral and written communication in the mother tongue
  7. Knowledge of a second language
  8. Digital competence
  9. Competence to investigate
  10. Competence to learn to learn
  11. Informational competence
  12. Critical and self-critical capacity
  13. Ability to adapt to new situations
  14. Ability to generate new ideas (creativity)
  15. Problem-solving skills
  16. Decision-making capacity
  17. Teamwork
  18. Interpersonal skills
  19. Leadership skills
  20. Ability to work in an interdisciplinary team
  21. Ability to communicate with people who are not experts in the subject
  22. Appreciation of diversity and multiculturalism
  23. Ability to work in an international context
  24. Knowledge of cultures and customs of other countries
  25. Ability to work independently
  26. Project design and management
  27. Initiative and entrepreneurial spirit
  28. Ethical commitment to the profession
  29. Concern for quality
  30. Achievement motivation

Having analysed some of the most significant proposals in relation to the specific competencies of the Pedagogy degree (Annex 1), in order to have a global vision of the problem and have sufficient validated information, and based on the professional profile, we propose the following professional competencies:

  1. Be competent in analyzing current educational systems, especially European ones, professions, and/or educational institutions as a social, cultural, political, economic, and historical product, as well as future trends based on a dynamic comparative analysis of their situation.
  2. Be competent in the analysis and interpretation of the concept of education and the different elements that intervene in the development of any educational process.
  3. Be competent in applying the basic principles of curriculum theory in all training contexts.
  4. Be familiar with the different theories that explain human development throughout life, as a basis for pedagogical interventions adapted to different circumstances and stages of development.
  5. Be competent in understanding social differences and inequalities (social class, culture, gender, ethnicity), in identifying situations of educational discrimination that they may generate, as well as in the actions required to promote equality.
  6. Be competent in analyzing environmental problems and designing actions to address them.
  7. Be competent in planning, developing, and executing scientific research processes from an open, flexible, and plural methodological perspective.
  8. Be competent in the design, development, and application of instruments for measuring, diagnosing, and analyzing educational needs.
  9. Be competent in the integration of ICT in education.
  10. Be competent to train and advise teachers as well as trainers working outside the education system.
  11. Be competent to organize and coordinate the use and operation of the resources of a training or education institution or establishment, applying specific criteria to optimize the development of the institution's own actions.
  12. Be competent to design and develop educational intervention programs and/or plans (training plans, institutional improvement processes, pedagogical action, social action, action with minors at risk, etc.).
  13. Be competent to design and develop evaluation processes aimed at improving educational centers, institutions and systems, programs, and teachers (trainers).
  14. Be competent in the identification, location, analysis and management of educational information and documentation.
  15. Be proficient in English in relation to the professional knowledge and skills of the degree.