Training in Spanish universities of professionals as change agents to face the society’s challenges

Abstract

EDINSOST, R + D + i project Challenges research funded by the Ministry of Industry, Economy and Competitivity, is located as a research challenge in the field of social changes and innovations. The project aims to contribute transversally to the improvement of the social challenges of the Spanish Strategy for Science and Technology and Innovation, the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation, and the European 2020 Strategy. The research is applied, with a marked multidisciplinary character, and contextualized in ten universities that work together from the Sectorial Commission of the CRUE for Sustainability, in the working group of Curriculum Sustainability, with the intention of creating synergies and agreed frameworks of action at the national level. In this area of research and action, there is a lack of common criteria on the competences to be integrated, their learning and their evaluation. To advance the challenge of standardizing these criteria, frameworks and processes are developed that facilitate the integration of sustainability in the university curriculum holistically through the cartography and validation of pedagogical practices, the diagnosis of the state in Spanish universities and the creation of teaching and learning materials for the development of competencies in sustainability. The objectives of the project are focused on: 1) Defining the sustainability map of the degrees targeted by the project, and establishing the framework that facilitates their integration in a holistic manner; 2) Validate teaching strategies for the acquisition of competencies in sustainability, from a constructivist and community pedagogical approach (Service-Learning, PBL, PPBL); 3) Diagnose the state of training needs in sustainability of teachers and develop and test training proposals; and 4) Diagnose the state of learning of sustainability in university students and develop and test training proposals. The research methodology is an interpretative approach, with the use of quantitative and qualitative techniques, and covers a population with three levels of incidence. On the one hand, degree programs are carried out that integrate the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, social and economic). On the other, and taking into account its multiplying and long-term effect, special emphasis is placed on the Bachelor's and Master's degrees of five Education degrees, since its graduates are the future teachers of the new generations of citizens. Finally, six engineering degrees are studied for their great impact on the challenges of society.

Keywords: Sustainability Education, Teachers training, Competency map, Sustainability map, Teaching strategies.