School coexistence in the initial training of primary education teachers

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The initial training of teachers in school coexistence is essential to ensure an enriching and positive educational environment. The aim of this study is to analyse the incorporation of school coexistence in the curricula of the Primary Education degree programs in Spanish universities. METHOD: A research was conducted based on content analysis of the curricula of the 68 Spanish universities offering the Primary Education degree program. The analysis considered the university's ownership, the topics covered, the types of courses, and the academic years in which these topics were included. The collected sample consisted of the course guides for 322 subjects out of the total 4407 offered in the analysed curricula. MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2022 software was used for the analysis of these course guides, considering two categories: organizational aspects and thematic content identified from the theoretical framework. RESULTS: A total of 308 subjects were identified where school coexistence was addressed in a cross-cutting manner, and 14 specific subjects. All Spanish universities, except one, include school coexistence in their Primary Education degree programs. They cover a wide range of topics distributed evenly across different academic years, with the most frequent ones being school coexistence, conflict resolution, interaction control, and cooperation. DISCUSSION: It is concluded that the Bachelor's degree programs offered by Spanish universities to future Primary Education teachers incorporate school coexistence with diverse and up-to-date topics. Nevertheless, there is a need to include specific topics such as cyberbullying or mediation more prominently to enhance the current training received by students.