Analysis of the needs of beginner students in the Teaching Degrees: Implications for the design of the University Orientation Plan in the Faculty of Education

Abstract

The aim of this work was to find out what are the needs of the students who started either the Degree in Early Childhood Education and the Degree in Primary Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Zaragoza during the academic year 2015-16. In order to do so, teachers from both of the degrees mentioned above who were also form tutors of the University Counseling Center (Plan de Orientación Universitaria -POU- in Spanish) of the Faculty of Education, developed and distributed the ad hoc questionnaire. Some mentors, who also participated in the POU, helped in the elaboration of this questionnaire. It focuses on finding and evaluating the information needs that students encounter in two specific moments of their academic course, that is, once they start the degree and at the end of the first semester. Results indicate that in both moments, the greatest needs of the students are the academic ones. Thus, when students start the degree, geographic and administrative needs are the second most demanded, leaving the personal and social needs on the third place. However, by the end of the first semester, these two types of needs alternate their degree of relevance in the life of the students in order that personal and social needs occupy the second place, followed by geographical and administrative needs on the third place. Nevertheless, the three types of needs proved to be at a higher point at the beginning of the degree, but consequently decreasing after the first semester. These results allow to specify the content of the POU of the Faculty of Education. It not only allows to design and elaborate specific activities and materials in order to address these evolving needs that students face during their freshman year of University, but also to facilitate their adaptation to the university environment and therefore, to their academic performance.