Raising Awareness on Teacher Training Changes: Perspectives and Challenges

One of the numerous challenges in the educational processes is teacher training, particularly in the framework of neo-liberal global societies ruled by the competitiveness of regular and continuous education programs in teacher training. It is a matter of concern and, therefore, a matter of analysis, if we consider the deep impact in all contexts. Accordingly, this paper discusses the situation from a descriptive perspective as a basic requirement to go beyond the analysis on the urgency of having clear educational policies related to the variety and quality of curricular programs; and, above all, a strong awareness from teacher trainers to see themselves as the critical creative mass from which change can be made, based on socially human proposals.  

Pedagogical Mediation for the Autonomy of Future Professionals in Teacher Training

This article studies the importance of pedagogical mediation in helping first-year students in the Teacher Training area to advance from intellectual heteronomy to intellectual autonomy. It explains some strategies and experiences implemented by the authors. It focuses on the need of paying attention to students in order to understand their expectations, opinions and previous experiences as a basis for developing different topics and concepts, to favor an actual free participation in the pedagogical mediation dynamics and, consequently, opportunities for students to express themselves with autonomy. The aforementioned strategies allow for the transition from a pedagogy centered on teaching to a pedagogy centered on learning, in such a way that the future educator becomes a protagonist in his/her formation and constructs his/her own intellectual identity, based on the concept of action-reflection-action. The authors of this article consider that the first year in higher education is a privileged opportunity to develop the autonomy of future teachers, and, as stated by Freire (2004), the respect for autonomy is an ethical imperative.