In this increasingly globalised society, teachers and researchers are stressing the importance of counting on teachers who are equipped to deal with classroom diversity and able to develop their Intercultural Competence (IC). Various conceptual models have been proposed to assess Intercultural Competence, but little is known about how this competence can be developed and successfully incorporated into teacher training. This paper presents the results of an exploratory research study that aimed to implement a proposal for a training model to promote the development of IC during teaching placements undertaken by students enrolled in the Bachelor's Degree in Primary Education (BA PE). To this end, we will analyse the development of IC in these trainee teachers and describe the factors that, from the students' perspective, facilitate or hinder this process. We will conclude by identifying the main features that teaching placements should have or need to consider in order to promote the learning and development of IC. The training experience analysed in this paper forms part of a teaching innovation project through which the students (all preservice teachers) designed and implemented an interdisciplinary and inclusive pedagogic proposal for education through the arts. Thirty-two students participated in this study whilst they completed their teaching placements at a multicultural primary school of high educational complexity, in which, as a result of school segregation, a disadvantaged social composition prevails. Based on a qualitative and evolutionary approach to IC, with the results obtained in the study it was possible to define four dimensions in which gradual processes of learning and development of IC could be identified: (1) Receptiveness towards inclusive and intercultural education, (2) Openness to diversity, (3) Reflexivity and (4) Adaptability/flexibility. These processes range from internal results, identifying attitudes that need to be strengthened, to external results, as skills in interpersonal relations to be developed in order to successfully manage the multicultural diversity present in the classroom. In terms of the factors that facilitate or hinder the development of IC, we identified various elements, both at a personal level and at a professional training level. Factors at a personal level were those linked to participants' experiences outside the educational setting, i. e. own experiences with family, work, friendships or during their previous schooling. At the professional level, the factors were linked to the participants' experiences at the educational setting that we are analysing in this study, i. e. , linked to their university education. By analysing both the IC development process and the factors that facilitate or hinder it, it was possible to identify a series of features in teaching placements that promote the learning and development of IC. This is precisely what will be discussed as a final step in this research paper: we will present a detailed description of the participatory action research that was conducted over the span of three academic years, with the corresponding phases for each academic cycle or period: 1) Identification of needs; 2) Planning and development and 3) Evaluation. Based on this research's practical contributions and the expansion of the theoretical framework from which we started, we will put forward some suggestions for future actions regarding the design and evaluation of teaching placements geared towards the development of IC in trainee teachers.
Proposta de pràcticum per fomentar la competència intercultural en la formació inicial docente
Podesta González, S. P. (Author). 8 Feb 2023
Student thesis: Doctoral thesis
Student thesis: Doctoral thesis