An aptitude test for secondary school teachers? Deans from across the country are evaluating changes to initial teacher training.

BarcelonaThe curricula that dictate how initial teacher training for schools and institutes should be structured haven't been updated in almost 15 years. Students, professors, and education experts have long insisted on the need to rethink how and what future teachers are taught, but now, in addition, the The new Spanish university law (LOSU), approved in 2023, also establishes that it is necessary to reform and update university degrees.For this reason, two years ago the Ministry of Education asked the deans of education faculties across the country to submit proposals for changes to the degrees in early childhood education, primary education, social education, and pedagogy, as well as the secondary school teaching master's degree, which qualifies professionals to teach in compulsory secondary education (ESO) and upper secondary education (Bachillerato). The work carried out by several working groups over the past two years will be presented at the 21st National Assembly of the Conference of Deans of Education, which is being held until this Tuesday in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. This meeting brings together more than 60 deans of education from across the country, who are tasked with evaluating proposed changes to the white papers for education degrees—that is, the guidelines that should define the curricula for undergraduate and master's degrees in this field. If the proposals under review are approved, they will be submitted to the Ministry of Education. Although not legally binding, the conclusions reached at the deans' conference should carry significant weight when the Ministry of Education decides on changes to update the training of future teachers.

Extending the secondary school teaching master's degree

One of the key points to be discussed at the meeting is the potential changes to the secondary education master's degree. In this regard, one possibility is to propose extending the program from the current 60 credits to 90 or 120, which would mean the degree would last two years instead of one. Furthermore, the option of requiring an aptitude test for admission to the secondary education master's program nationwide, as is already the case for the undergraduate degree in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, is also under consideration. the PAP (the personal aptitude tests that grant access to degrees for being a teacher). In fact, the deans are also considering requesting that the PAP (Professional Aptitude Test) be required for admission to teacher training programs throughout the country. This possibility is considered "unlikely" by Enric Prats, PhD in Pedagogy from the Faculty of Education at the University of Barcelona (UB), who has attended some of the previous meetings of the education deans. "They are using the Balearic Islands model, which is more comprehensive than all the others. In the PAP, they administer more tests and even require candidates to submit a video," he explains. Prats insists that the Balearic model works very well, but that "it can only be done this way because they have few candidates." "In Catalonia, with 5,000 candidates each year, it would be impossible to evaluate 5,000 videos, and it would also be difficult to extend the model to the rest of the country," he says.

A possible master's degree also because he is a teacher

Another debate to be addressed at the deans' conference is whether preschool and primary school teachers should also complete a master's degree. In this case, Prats explains that there is a clash between professionals who believe the teaching degree should be "more general" and allow teachers to specialize later, and those who believe the degree should offer more "specific teaching methodologies." In this regard, one option would be to maintain the current qualifying degree in preschool and primary education, but also require a master's degree for specialization, instead of relying on specializations within the undergraduate degree. In this respect, the Spanish societies for specific teaching methodologies—APIC (didactics of experimental sciences), AUPDCS (didactics of social sciences), SEA (art education), SIDLL (didactics of language and literature), and SEIEM (mathematics education)—have already expressed their opposition to the proposed legislation. In a statement, they warn that it "reduces didactic-disciplinary knowledge to a marginal role and replaces the essential articulation between disciplines and their teaching with generalist pedagogical approaches." On the other hand, some also advocate for this master's degree to be a qualifying qualification, which would extend by one or two years the period from when aspiring teachers enter university until they can work as classroom teachers. "Making this master's degree a qualifying qualification is something I see as very complicated, because it's unlikely to go anywhere, since it would imply that the ministry would have to initiate a process that seems to require changing some laws," admits Prats. "It's time to review the plans."

Beyond these structural changes, Prats insists that it is necessary to review the curricula for education degrees because "aspects such as inclusive education, digitalization, and the learning ecosystem involving family and community" have completely changed since the teacher training degrees were designed almost 15 years ago. "We must review the curricula, not only because the law requires it, but because it's time," insists the PhD in pedagogy. However, Prats also warns that modifying initial teacher training will not produce noticeable changes "for at most seven years," because the curricula need to be drafted. This means that they would begin to be implemented "at best in the 2028-2029 academic year." For this reason, he insists that the urgent matter is to review continuing professional development, that is, the training received by teachers already working in classrooms in schools and institutes.