This study seeks to apply a tool to analyse, on different teacher training programmes, the training activities that foster the development of the basic transversal skills for the exercise of the teaching profession. To do this, (1) training activities are selected at the different participating universities that are designed to develop a certain set of skills. After that (2) the efficacy of said activities is evaluated, applying the LTSI_HE instrument, as adapted to the Spanish university context, and using the factors it is made up of as elements for the diagnosis and evaluation of the transfer of teacher training. In addition, (3) deferred evaluations are made of the most prominent training programmes, in order to analyse the capacity for prediction of the factors as alternative transfer methods. The diagnosis of the transfer factors, associated to skills development, and their evaluation, will make it possible to produce specific proposals regarding ways of improving the effectiveness of teacher training, and will guide decision making to improve the same in Spanish universities in general.
So, the main objective that this project is proposing is that of validating a tool for the evaluation of the transfer of university teacher training and determining whether it is extendible to any higher education context. This objective is to be sought through the validation of the Learning Transfer System Inventory for Higher Education (LTSI-HE), adapted by Feixas and Zellweger from the original LTSI by Ed. Holton. This involves studying the model of factors affecting the transfer of training as proposed by Holton, Bates and Ruona (2000) and adapting it to the context of higher education in such a way that it can provide theoretical and practical elements to pedagogic-didactic thinking at University.
The proposed design explores the dimensions of the evaluation of training by skills in the university area both in theoretical terms and those of the practical implications. The plan is for this to involve a bibliographic investigation and a field study.
The field study is approached using a quantitative and qualitative methodology and assumes a descriptive-interpretative focus. This involves analysing significant activities on teacher training programmes at 11 Spanish universities as the examination strategy. The instruments selected for collecting this information are: (1) the LTSI (adapted to the university training context), (2) interviews and the discussion group with teachers that have done the training and (3) the analysis of documents. The factors resulting from the validation of the instrument will offer information on basic aspects, and special attention should be paid to ways of planning university teacher training on the basis of skills.
The results obtained will be articulated in relation to four essential aspects of the issue: a tool for the diagnosis and evaluation of the transfer of teacher training in higher education, the dimensions of the transfer of training in relation with skills, the conditions for success and the possible barriers for the transfer of training, and the characteristic features of effective training. All of these elements will make it possible to develop as an end product a complete tool for the diagnosis of the transfer of teacher training that is applicable to any training activity associated to the development of teaching skills in the Spanish university context, and to guide decision making on ways of improving the quality of teacher training plans for the incorporation of new teachers in Spanish universities in general.
This research is based on the collaborative work between the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the U. Sant Gallen and Pädagogishe Hochschule in Zurich (specifically the GIPE and EDO research groups and Professor Franziska Zellweger) with Dr. Elwood F. Holton, a professor at Louisiana State University (United States), one of the most important experts in the world in the field of the development of human resources and the effectiveness of continuing training. Dr. Holton’s renowned experience and international prestige in the field of the effectiveness of training is a highly valuable contribution to our team and this research into the results of university teacher training.