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To what extent do preservice teachers feel ready to teach? A case study in the Master's Degree in Teaching in Secondary Education

Abstract:

Teacher-training programs around the world, and especially in Europe do not specify in detail the capacities that future professionals should acquire, so it brings about a great discussion among educators, researchers and teachers. The main objective of this study is to know and evaluate the level of competence development acquired by future Secondary Education teachers during their initial training. The self-evaluation of 353 students was carried out using a Likert-scale questionnaire made up by 13 variables gathered into three dimensions namely social competence, academic competence and personal competence. R Software, InfoStats and SPSS v.25 software were used in order to analyze the data collected. Confirmatory factorial analyses and linear mixed modelling were applied to identify factors affecting the acquisition of competences. The students' area of knowledge and their employment situation were key factors in the development of academic and social competences, while the personal dimension was affected only by the area of knowledge. These results obviously show that there are some competences whose level of development could be improved, and we have also identified some weaknesses in the development of certain competences. In addition, these data have allowed us to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the initial teacher-training curriculum.