Analysis of Spanish university training for teaching a foreign language in pre-school education.

Abstract

The Spanish education system is managed by 19 Regional Education Ministries, each of them corresponds to one of the country’s regional governments and the two autonomous cities. Even though the central functions of regulation and coordination correspond to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (MECD), the regional governments are in charge of guaranteeing the provision of university education. This represents a mosaic of different realities, characterised by a growing combination of public and private universities. They have the capacity to define their own curricula, which inevitably influence what teachers are and should be. This study focuses on the university training offered to future preschool and primary education teachers. Specifically, on training in the teaching of foreign languages for pupils at the preschool stage. In Spain, depending on the Autonomous Community, the teachers responsible for the introduction of the foreign language, English, are traditionally not specialists in this early stage, as they are specialists in English at the primary education stage. Therefore, given the need to create a new teaching profile for the teaching of English at Preschool stage and the absence of studies describing the training that future teachers currently receive, the ultimate aim of this qualitative research focuses on analysing the training related to the foreign language English and its didactics for the preschools stage. The results show that the academic training offered is not sufficient. This study allows higher education institutions to discover the reality of university training in this field and promotes decision-making focused on improving it.