BELIEFS OF THE STUDENTS OF THE SECONDARY MASTER IN SPAIN-PORTUGAL

Abstract

The general objective of this study is to analyze the curricular reality and the opinions of the students about the teaching methods they know during their professional training in the Master’s Degree in Secondary Education at the University of Córdoba (Spain) and the University of Porto (Portugal). The implemented methodology has allowed us to identify, through a questionnaire type survey, the students' conceptions of the methodologies and didactic strategies that they think would be more appropriate for their future professional practice and teacher training. The results of the investigation indicate that the students are unaware of the didactic models to be used in their classes. Finally, this work was an opportunity to probe the beliefs that students have about the excessive theorizing of subjects.

TEACHER EDUCATION; HIGHER EDUCATION; DIDACTICS; TEACHING METHODS

Resumen

El objetivo general de este estudio es analizar la realidad curricular y las opiniones de los estudiantes acerca de los métodos de enseñanza que conocen durante su formación profesional en el Máster de Profesorado de Educación Secundaria de la Universidad de Córdoba (España) y la Universidad de Oporto (Portugal). La metodología implementada nos ha permitido identificar mediante un cuestionario tipo encuesta las concepciones del alumnado sobre las metodologías y las estrategias didácticas que piensan serían más adecuadas para su futura práctica profesional y formación docente. Los resultados de la investigación señalan que los estudiantes desconocen los modelos didácticos a emplear en sus clases. Por último, este trabajo supuso una oportunidad para sondear las creencias que el alumnado tiene acerca de la excesiva teorización de las materias.

FORMACIÓN DE PROFESORES; EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR; DIDÁCTICA; MÉTODOS DE ENSEÑANZA

Resumo

O objetivo geral deste estudo é analisar a realidade curricular e as opiniões dos alunos sobre os métodos de ensino que conhecem durante sua formação profissional no Mestrado em Ensino Secundário da Universidade de Córdoba (Espanha) e da Universidade do Porto (Portugal). A metodologia implementada nos permitiu identificar, através de uma pesquisa do tipo questionário, as concepções dos alunos sobre as metodologias e estratégias didáticas que consideram que seriam mais apropriadas para sua futura prática profissional e formação docente. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam que os alunos desconhecem os modelos didáticos a serem utilizados em suas aulas. Por fim, este trabalho representou uma oportunidade para sondar as crenças dos sobre a teorização excessiva das disciplinas.

FORMAÇÃO DE PROFESSORES; ENSINO SUPERIOR; DIDÁTICA; MÉTODOS DE ENSINO

Résumé

L'objectif général de cette étude est d'analyser la réalité du programme scolaire et les opinions des étudiants sur les méthodes d’enseignement auxquelles ils sont exposés tout au long de leur formation professionnelle dans le cadre du cours de maîtrise en Enseignement Secondaire à l’Université de Cordoue (Espagne) et à l’Université de Porto (Portugal). La méthodologie mise en œuvre a permis d’identifier, à travers une enquête par questionnaire, les conceptions des étudiants sur les méthodologies et les stratégies didactiques qu'ils jugent les plus adaptées à leur future pratique professionnelle ainsi qu’à la formation des enseignants. Les résultats de la recherche montrent que les étudiants ne connaissent pas les modèles didactiques qu’ils devront utiliser dans leurs propres classes. Par ailleurs, ce travail a permis d’examiner les croyances des étudiants quant à la théorisation excessive des disciplines.

FORMATION DES ENSEIGNANTS; ENSEIGNEMENT SUPÉRIEUR; DIDACTIQUE; MÉTHODES D'ENSEIGNEMENT

Study introduction and justification

The beliefs of the students of the Máster de Formación del Profesorado de Enseñanza Secundaria [Master’s Degree in Secondary Teacher Training] (MAES, in its Spanish acronym) are decisive to make sense not only of methodological problems, but also of the teaching of History itself. In this sense, the term “beliefs” is limited to the previous experiences the students have incorporated to their pedagogical culture, and especially their degree of involvement in their formative journeys so as to get their qualifications. To justify this, the collection and analysis of these beliefs about teaching processes and the didactics of History place us in the complicated process of initially training new teachers.

These concepts acquire a significant importance in this area, as they reinforce the incorporation of active learning methodologies into our teaching practice - the goal is to improve the student’s didactic training and professional skills (Domínguez, 2015). In this process of professional teaching, it is necessary to deepen the experiential learning associated with the historical events they know about, as well as to ponder whether the conceptual and rote knowledge allows for a reflective attitude which boosts the problematisation of the particular contexts in which a teacher works (Montanares & Llancavil, 2016).

These temporal concepts become essential in order to clarify what students know and how they want to gain knowledge historical time (Santisteban, 2007). The historical perspective would imply a temporal/historical contextualisation which places the students in a particular event of the past. As Seixas (2011) points out, historical meaning is not indissociable from the past itself, but it is created from the relationship between the historian and the past. Thus, students benefit - and learn - from the inclusion of stories in their high school classrooms, which eases their participation in complex historical thoughts about topics with great emotional weight (Levy, 2017). For their part, Barca (2010) believes that historical narrative manifests the similarities the narrator finds among the past, the present, and - occasionally - the future, from an individual and social point of view.

In short, it is a matter of interpreting the past and building upon the historical thinking by following the historian’s methods so as to learn the necessary tools for the professional practice of graduate students (Vansledright, 2014). Historical thinking is not limited to remembering the facts and events of the past (Gómez Carrasco et al., 2014). Such knowledge of the past and its historical understanding may imply the development of thinking skills far from conceptual memorisation (Sáiz Serrano & Gómez Carrasco, 2016). Hence, from the point of view of narrative research and social memory, there is a close relationship between the areas of Social Sciences and Humanities (Liu, 2013).

Undoubtedly, in the last decade, research in History Didactics has produced a significant number of works about the student’s education in History (Chapman, 2011; Gairín, 2011; Gómez Carrasco & Miralles Martínez, 2015; Hernández Amoros & Carrasco Embuena,, 2012; Ibáñez- -Etxeberria et al., 2015; Levstik, 2016; Prats & Santacana, 2011; Rivero & Souto, 2019; Rüsen, 2005; Schmidt & Barca, 2009; Seixas & Morton, 2013). These studies establish a line of action that has been treated partially, without going deeper into such significant aspects as the construction of the professional identity of secondary school teachers or the development of skills for teaching practice. In fact, teachers are expected to have knowledge and attitudes which are implicit to their profession (Martínez De La Hidalga & Villardón-Gallego, 2015), as well as to prioritize educational skills over theoretical content (Blömeke et al., 2016). For Serrano and Pontes (2016), in relation to this professional development, it is essential to motivate students for them to get involved in the performance of their tasks.

In this sense, historical education, in a formal context, allows secondary school students to act and reflect on the educational tools they will use in their teaching. As Marques (2006) indicates, it is necessary to ensure the understanding of (scientific) knowledge within a framework of understanding that does not renounce temporality, spatiality and contextualisation of data, so that we can confirm that the student are able communicate what they have learned from a historical point of view in the most appropriate way. In this regard, Jiménez et al. (2018) point out that didactic teacher training in teaching methods is an opportunity for teachers to learn and better implement these methods in their professional development.

To this end, the previous training of History teachers would have to be improved from the basic levels on, as well as oriented towards professional practice, which would favour the historical education of their future students (Sáiz Serrano & López-Facal, 2015). In fact, the relationship between initial training and access to the teaching profession is a problem of great importance not only for future teachers and the education system, but also for the society itself (Lorenzo et al., 2015). Also, initial teacher training must link this historical education to the reality of the university (Trigueros Cano et al., 2018) and to improve the learning process through the relationship between university tutors and secondary school teachers. For its part, Nóvoa (2009) describes three training stages for secondary education teachers: the university degree, the Master’s Degree in Education and an initial period in teacher professionalisation.

However, teacher training by competencies should favour real situations to experiment with a less theoretical approach to historical disciplines (Estepa & Martín, 2018). It is also necessary to meet the demand for changes in the work pace and to consider teaching innovation as an essential element in the training process. For their part, Krichesky and Murillo (2018) state that not all collaborative practices inspire substantial improvements in teaching or develop the innovation capacity of teachers. This largely confirms that collaboration as a strategy in educational practice reinforces the teacher’s autonomy and pedagogical skills (Imbernón et al., 2020).

In this sense, learning about history should not be limited only to rote learning and reproducing historical content or past-based narratives (Sáiz Serrano & Fuster Garcia, 2014). Regarding this, Marques (2016) warns that history, as knowledge of the past, is a process of building a narrative about that past, so it must create a climate of rapprochement between yesterday’s and today’s society. From this perspective, everything suggests that theoretical and practical training related to the teaching profession would need the coordination between universities and secondary education teachers (Imbernón, 2019). Moreover, the teaching of history through the basic stages should combine the learning of historical knowledge and information with the development of historical skills or competences, derived from the work of the historian. It must be considered how the formation of historical thought in the classroom builds the students’ interest in history and the development of critical thinking (Gómez Carrasco et al., 2014).

On the other hand, it should be noted that the training process of the MAES Students in the University of Córdoba is verified by means of a university or bachelor’s degree corresponding to the chosen specialty: Social Sciences, Geography and History. On the other hand, for a student to enrol in the Master’s Degree in History Teaching in the 3rd cycle of Basic and Secondary Education at the University of Porto, they must hold a university degree in History. In this way, the contents and skills acquired in their university or bachelor’s degrees must be curricularly reinforced with their postgraduate studies, where they must take the following subjects and credits (Chart 1):

CHART 1
SUBJECTS AND CREDITS OF U.PORTO AND UCO

FLUP (University of Porto)		FCCEE (University of Córdoba)
Subjects	Credits	Subjects	Credits
Políticas Educativas e Curriculo	6	Aprendizaje y desarrollo de la personalidad	4
Didática da História I	6	Procesos y contextos educativos	4
História da Cultura e das Artes	6	Sociedad, Familia y Educación	4
Psicologia da Educação	6	Gestión de la Convivencia Escolar	4
História Económica	6	Las TIC como recursos educativos para la enseñanza secundaria	4
Ética e Educação	6	Plataformas de enseñanza virtual	4
Didática da História II	6	Técnicas de comunicación oral en la docencia	4
Aplicações Didáticas em História	6	Aprendizaje y enseñanza de las materias correspondientes en Ciencias Sociales, Geografía e Historia	12
Investigação Educacional	6	Complementos para la formación disciplinar en Ciencias Sociales: Geografía e Historia	6
A Web e o Ensino da História	6	Innovación docente e iniciación a la investigación educativa en Ciencias Sociales: Geografía e Historia	6
Iniciação à Prática Profissional	48	Prácticas externas	10
Perspetivas em Educação Histórica	6	Trabajo Fin de Máster	6
Problemáticas Históricas	6

• Source: Prepared by the author.

These subjects need to reinforce initial training including curricular elements, theoretical content related to the specialisation, learning strategies, acquisition of skills, management of educational centres, methods of history teaching, all of which are necessary for their professional development. In relation to the particular case of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Porto, Marques and Pinto (2018) indicate that: “No Mestrado, destacava-se, como intenção final, o desenvolvimento de um marco conceptual estruturante e a familiarização com procedimentos vários que permitissem uma progressiva autonomia no saber-evoluir docente” (p. 18). In a way, as López-Facal (2012) points out, the complements should always refer to the secondary school subjects related to the teaching specialisation, not the academic specialisation in the university.

Therefore, the main objective of this study was to detect the beliefs held by the students of the Master’s Degree in Secondary Education at the universities of Porto, Portugal, and Córdoba, Spain, in relation to the learning methodologies considered most appropriate to implement in their professional future. In order to achieve this objective, the following specific objectives have been set: (1) to know the teaching methods they were exposed during their university training; (2) to identify their interest in relation to the knowledge of the past and its interpretation; (3) to investigate the academic difficulties they have in evaluating the historical contents, and (4) to analyse the didactic resources necessary to implement a historical-educational methodology.

Methodology

Participants and sample

The study sample consisted of students from the Master’s Degree in Secondary Education at the University of Córdoba (N=118) who took the subject “Learning and teaching the corresponding subjects in Social Sciences: Geography, and History”, and students from the University of Porto (N=26) who took the subject “Didactics of History I”. The students who participated in this research were 24 years old on average.

The sample selection - not of a probabilistic nature - focused on the groups of participants where the teachers responsible for the subjects had been directly involved in educational research. Although the number of Portuguese students is lower, the representativeness of the sample is similar. Likewise, Portugal and Spain were chosen due to the differences in curriculum and competencies in the teaching of History.

Research design

In this study, a non-experimental quantitative questionnaire was used, taking as an example the work of Hernández-Pina and Maquilón (2010). This research approach allowed us to address the students’ beliefs about the most appropriate teaching styles in order to gain knowledge about history, together with the different perspectives they have on education and historical thought (Metzger & Harris, 2018). On the basis of these assumptions, thanks to the analysis of this study, we were able to understand the theoretical and practical foundations upon which historical education is based.

For this purpose, a battery of closed-ended questions was designed, according to the proposals of Kvale (2011) and Moriña (2017), in order to analyse the methodological and professional training the students are exposed to during the theoretical and practical sessions in both master’s degrees. This type of study is common in research related to education, as it would respond to the amount of learning acquired and the assessment of different variables (García & Cabero, 2011).

Data collection and analysis

The data analysed are part of a questionnaire called “Beliefs of teachers in training about History teaching methods”. This instrument focused on learning about the teaching methods they were exposed in their History classes of the Master’s Degree in Teaching. For this study, a five-value Likert-type scale was used, ranging from 1 - being equivalent to strongly disagree - and 5 - equivalent to strongly agree. In the classification and elaboration of the 20 items of the questionnaire, the work of Meschede et al. (2017) was considered. Five experts in Secondary Education and Didactics of History from Spanish and Portuguese universities took part in its validation. After the experts’ approval of its structure and content, the items were translated into Portuguese for the sample of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Porto.

CHART 2
QUESTIONNAIRE “BELIEFS OF TEACHERS IN TRAINING ABOUT HISTORY TEACHING METHODS”

Beliefs of teachers in training about History teaching methods

1. Teaching History consists in analysing past events, comparing them with the present and establishing similarities or differences. 2. The teaching of History is guided by a traditional approach. 3. When teaching History, changes of pace are needed in the classroom. 4. In order to teach History, it is useful to do research, use historical maps and analyse texts, among others. 5. For the teaching of History, the authors' narratives can be used to investigate the historical circumstances of a particular period. 6. The teachers who have taught History in your university degree have provided you with didactic resources for your work as a teacher. 7. The use of ICTs is a useful resource in History learning. 8. An approach to the cultural heritage of the environment facilitates historical empathy. 9. In order to learn History, I must know how to interpret the past. 10. Direct and indirect sources make easier to gain knowledge about the past. 11. Historical narratives serve as tools for critical and reflective thinking. 12. The teaching method influences the learning of historical facts that happened centuries ago. 13. Cooperative work is helpful in managing the acquisition of historical content. 14. The participatory methodology favours significant learning. 15. A reflective teaching method builds the historical perspective. 16. Project-based work allows us to research upon historical problems. 17. Virtual learning is a methodological strategy in History classes. 18. The main instrument to assess contents related to History is the test. 19. Conceptual and rote learning tools are used to evaluate History. 20. The teaching staff must share their didactic experiences in order to implement more enriching methodologies for the students.

• Source: Prepared by the author.

In order to respond to the objectives set out in the questionnaire, frequencies and percentages were measured. In the analysis and interpretation of the information, an Excel spreadsheet was used as technical support to make the required graphs and calculations.

Results

The results of the tables analysed below have been divided based on two samples representing the universities of Spain and Portugal, respectively, in order to analyse the assessments of both groups of students and to respond to the objectives set out at the beginning of the study. In order to specify the first objective focused on knowing about the teaching methods being exposed to at the university, we have taken items 2 and 14 as reference. The results in Table 1 show that university education favours learning methods with a traditional approach at both the University of Porto (84.6%) and the University of Córdoba (85.6%). Also, students at both universities fully agree - with percentages of 69.2% and 74.6% respectively - that the participatory methodology benefits the acquisition of significant learning.

TABLE 1
TEACHING METHODS IMPLEMENTED AT THE UNIVERSITY

Portugal		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
2.- The teaching of History is guided by a traditional approach
%	100	0	0	11.5	3.9	84.6
Frq	26	0	0	3	1	22
Portugal		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
14.- The participatory methodology favours significant learning
%	100	3.9	7.7	0	19.2	69.2
Frq	26	1	2	0	5	18
Spain		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
2.- The teaching of History is guided by a traditional approach
%	100	1.7	2.5	3.4	6.8	85.6
Frq	118	2	3	4	8	101
Spain		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
14.- The participatory methodology favours significant learning
%	100	2.5	5.9	6.8	10.2	74.6
Frq	118	3	7	8	12	88

• Source: Prepared by the author.

Items 9 and 10 have been selected to respond to the second objective. The first one shows some disbelief among Portuguese students (42.3%) to interpret the past through knowledge of history, while the percentage of Spanish students is higher (60.2%). In the case of item 10, related to the usefulness of direct and indirect sources in the knowledge about the past, the percentages were modest, with 23.1% for Portugal and 44.9% for Spain.

TABLE 2
KNOWLEDGE AND INTERPRETATION OF THE HISTORICAL PAST

Portugal		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
9.- In order to learn History, I must know how to interpret the past.
%	100	11.5	7.7	11.5	27	42.3
Frq	26	3	2	3	7	11
Portugal		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
10. Direct and indirect sources make easier to gain knowledge about the past.
%	100	19.2	3.9	15.4	38.4	23.1
Frq	26	5	1	4	10	6
Spain		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
9.- In order to learn History, I must know how to interpret the past.
%	100	5.1	5.9	9.3	19.5	60.2
Frq	118	6	7	11	23	71
(Continuation) Spain		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
10. Direct and indirect sources make easier to gain knowledge about the past.
%	100	10.2	8.5	14.4	22	44.9
Frq	118	12	10	17	26	53

• Source: Prepared by the author.

As for the third objective, items 18 and 19 have been chosen. The results of the two items reflect high percentages in Portugal with 96.1% and 84.6% respectively, and 94.1% and 86.4% for the Spanish students. Both samples fully agree that, in order to evaluate historical contents, the test is the main instrument regarding rote learning and conceptual knowledge.

TABLE 3
HISTORICAL CONTENTS EVALUATION

Portugal		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
18. The main instrument to assess contents related to History is the test.
%	100	0	0	0	3.9	96.1
Frq	26	0	0	0	1	25
Portugal		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
19. Conceptual and rote learning tools are used to evaluate History.
%	100	0	0	11.5	3.9	84.6
Frq	26	0	0	3	1	22
Spain		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
18. The main instrument to assess contents related to History is the test.
%	100	0	0	1.7	4.2	94.1
Frq	118	0	0	2	5	111
Spain		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
19. Conceptual and rote learning tools are used to evaluate History.
%	100	0	5.1	.9	7.6	86.4
Frq	118	0	6	1	9	102

• Source: Prepared by the author.

About the fourth objective, we have selected items 4 and 7, devoted to the most appropriate teaching resources for teaching History. While the Portuguese students - with a result of 76.9% and 80.7% respectively - think that it is advantageous to make historical maps, text analyses, research works and the use of ICTs so as to teach History, the Spanish students raise these percentages, with 83% and 86.5% respectively.

TABLE 4
TEACHING RESOURCES TO TEACH HISTORY

Portugal		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
4. In order to teach History, it is useful to do research, use historical maps and analyse texts, among others.
%	100	0	0	7.7	15.4	76.9
Frq	26	0	0	2	4	20
Portugal		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
7.- The use of ICTs is a useful resource in History learning.
%	100	0	3.9	11.5	3.9	80.7
Frq	26	0	1	3	1	21
Spain		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
4. In order to teach History, it is useful to do research, use historical maps and analyse texts, among others.
%	100	0	.9	4.2	11.9	83
Frq	118	0	1	5	14	98
Spain		Very disagree	Disagree	Nor agree, nor disagree	Agree	Very Agree
7.- The use of ICTs is a useful resource in History learning.
%	100	2.5	0	5.9	5.1	86.5
Frq	118	3	0	7	6	102

• Source: Prepared by the author.

GRAPHIC 1
PERCENTAGE COMPARISON OF THE ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDY OBJECTIVES AND ITEMS FOR THE SAMPLE OF PORTUGUESE STUDENTS

GRAPHIC 2
PERCENTAGE COMPARISON OF THE ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDY OBJECTIVES AND ITEMS FOR THE SAMPLE OF SPANISH STUDENTS

Discussion

The results of the study clearly show that the beliefs of students in Spain and Portugal play a conclusive role in detecting methodological deficiencies and lack of knowledge about the historical methods they can use in their classes. In this respect, the limitations of the study reflect that the learning acquired in their university studies has a traditional methodological background which makes them get used to working in a transmissive way so as to learn history through the use of conceptual procedures. Therefore, it is clear that, for a representative change in this methodological approach to happen, it must be accompanied by strategies favouring the search for solutions to problems experienced in the real world, as well as the application of research methods (Gómez Carrasco et al., 2018).

According to the results obtained, it is difficult to analyse ongoing and past events, and to establish differences or similarities that make history a living and interesting discipline for students. Let us remember that circa 85% of Portuguese and Spanish students responded that the traditional and expository methodology plays a leading role in the teaching of History at university, while about 70% of them think that an active and participatory methodology favours significant learning. Therefore, the teaching methods implemented today still seem to give priority to the teacher’s narrative, the dictation of notes, and the theoretical test. Yet they agree to conduct research and use both digital resources and text analyses in order to interpret sources from the past.

Nonetheless, the conceptions of future secondary school teachers have a productive and common aspect - their positive answers in the items related to historical education and the practical impact it has on their professional training as History teachers. As indicated by Molina Puche et al. (2017), history becomes an instrument to transform reality and prepare students as critical citizens. However, the percentages related to the use of direct and indirect sources in order to facilitate knowledge about the past are only 23% for Portugal and 45% for Spain. This indicates their possible doubts about the role and learning potential offered by the sources, as well as the interpretation of the past through them.

As far as the evaluation of historical content is concerned, there seems to be no consistency in the evaluation processes from the point of view of either traditional or innovative methods. In this area, it is possible to find studies outlining the opportunities offered by teacher training in evaluation types and functions (König et al., 2017). The research data are clear in showing that both groups agree - with percentages circa 95% - that the main instrument used to assess knowledge about History is a written, conceptual and rote test. Finally, the results related to the management of didactic resources in the teaching of History range from 76-86%, with the use of digital tools being the most widely accepted for working on educational competencies (Miralles Martinez et al., 2019).

Conclusions

Despite the results of this study, the historical and methodological education of students at both universities raises certain questions about the educational practices they can reproduce in their secondary school classes. The methodological approaches they have learned about during their university training favour or hinder the acquisition of essential skills aimed to develop proposals and reflect upon teaching methods which improve them as teachers (Epstein & Salinas, 2018). In this sense, the problems the students face when handling a more active methodology in their professional development depend not only on the training of their university teachers, but also on the priority given to conceptual content as opposed to competence work (Muñoz et al., 2019). In this way, adequate initial training of new teachers would benefit from proposals leading to improvement and the design of actions aimed at addressing-from a historical perspective- the causes and consequences in the development of historical events.

Hereupon, the challenge of thinking historically lies in the university training of future historians in such stages as Primary and Secondary Education, and to acquire the benefits of historical training in citizen education (Gómez Carrasco et al., 2014). In fact, from school to university, the students’ training acquires a fixed pattern of theoretical transmission which makes history a discipline marked by rote learning and conceptual aspects. This university training does not delve into the most relevant aspects for their future teaching performance, nor does it assess the skills needed to tackle real classroom problems (Gómez & Rodríguez, 2014).

Considering the work of León and Molina (2017), learning facts, dates and concepts by heart makes little sense in a society where information is available at any time. Pinto and Pereira (2018) studied a sample of 130 teachers who participated in a continuous training course on digital competences to teach in public schools from Basic to Secondary Education in Portugal. Among the expectations of this training experience, the advantages of digital literacy and the methodological principles implemented are discussed. The integration of ICTs was also analysed via the answers to a questionnaire by 192 students from the Master’s Degree in Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, Official Language Teaching and Vocational Training, as well as the Degree in Infant and Primary Education. It could be inferred that educational training in the use of new technologies had a positive effect (Roblizo et al., 2016).

Despite the training in digital skills and their use in schools, the teaching of History continues to be attached to the demonstrative model and the written tests to evaluate conceptual contents. This raises future lines of research that remain open today and guide the learning focused on implementing active learning methodologies in higher education. Therefore, teacher training in historical education is necessary to improve teaching methods from a traditional practice to a more innovative one, as well as to strengthen the students’ initial and continuous training to develop those skills related to History.

Acknowledgments

This research has been carried out thanks to a mobility stay abroad “José Castillejo”, enjoyed at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Porto (Portugal) and funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of Spain. Likewise, this work is included in the research group "Educação e Desafios Societais” of the CITCEM in the University of Porto and also in the research project PGC2018-097481-B-I00 of the Government of Spain.

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• Data availability statement

  The data for this research are available at: https://data.scielo.org/dataverse/brcp

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  07 May 2021
• Date of issue
  2021

History

• Received
  27 Mar 2020
• Accepted
  21 Oct 2020