Study on the Collaboration between University and Educational Centers Mentors in the Development of the In-School Education Placements in Official University Degrees Qualifying for the Teaching Profession: The Case of the University of Santiago de Compostela

Abstract

An in-school education placements is considered a crucial axis in the training of the future teacher. This first immersion in the school context allows interaction between theory and practice, contextualized learning of the profession and reflection on the processes, skills and competencies to be acquired, as well as the student’s personal development. The successful achievement of these goals requires close collaboration and communication between all the agents involved in the internship: university mentors, school mentors, and the student intern. The present study focuses on a diagnosis of the collaboration between mentors (university and school) in the development of the training activities and processes that take place during the school internships. These internships correspond to the teaching degrees and the master’s degree in secondary education of the Faculty of Education Sciences of the University of Santiago de Compostela. Through a non-experimental study with descriptive methodology, using an online questionnaire, the perceptions of both profiles of mentors are collected. The first objective is to know the degree of collaboration that exists in the processes and in the different training activities that are currently carried out in the practicum; the second aim is to know the perception of the importance and necessity of such a collaboration in each of the proposed activities. The main results show the need to improve the collaboration and teamwork processes of the mentors and reinforce the relevance of designing and implementing specific technological solutions. It is necessary to connect both teaching profiles and educational contexts and to establish a hybrid training scenario that strengthens the training link between mentors and students in the practicum, allowing permanent and personalized support. This work is part of a Doctoral Thesis developed within the framework of the International Competitive research project EKT—Educational Knowledge Transfer-(Knowledge Alliance reference number 612414-EPP-1-2019-1-ES-EPPKA2-KA). The purpose is to develop and test collaborative educational methodologies for internships through an intelligent technological framework that aims to impact on a more effective, scalable, and sustainable system that is closely linked to professional contexts.