Cooperative learning in the initial training of Secondary School teachers

Introduction: this is a time of university change. Degrees and curricula are being overhauled in order to qualify for inclusion in the European Higher Education Area, and the Spanish Pedagogical Aptitude Certificate is to be replaced by the master's degree for secondary school teachers. The authors did not care to miss this opportunity to improve the initial training of secondary school teachers. In this paper they argue in favour of cooperative learning as an essential item in the content of initial training. Methodology: accordingly, the authors analysed the relationships between cooperative learning and certain didactic proposals pertaining to teacher training; the curriculum content of the courses for earning the official postgraduate teaching certificates necessary in order to practice the teaching profession in secondary schools; the curriculum that students study in compulsory and optional higher secondary school; and the positive effects of cooperative classroom learning on academic, emotional and social variables. Cooperative learning techniques are an innovative method that can help solve the most pressing issues in education, such as school failure, lack of motivation, teacher/student relationships, peer abuse and the handling of multiculturalism in the classroom. Discussion and conclusions: the authors believe that cooperative learning should always be included in initial teacher training because of its relationships with current educational objectives and because the authors are certain it is useful in the classroom. Changing these ideas in initial teacher training means that teachers will understand education as comprehensive training and learn alternative methods, such as cooperative learning, to promote the development of intellectual competences and career skills, the development of communication strategies and the personal growth of students.