DEVELOPING CORE COMPETENCIES IN FIRST YEAR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: AN INNOVATIVE EXPERIENCE IN THE DEGREE OF PRIMARY AND INFANT EDUCATION

This contribution presents an innovative teaching experience developing core competencies with University students, by promoting educational practices and evaluation procedures seeking the promotion and maximization of various competencies. This research has been implemented in the degree of Teacher Training at the University of Valencia during the academic years (2013-14 and 2014-15). 141 students participated in the study through accidental sampling. After developing a survey methodology based on descriptive-exploratory analysis, data collected allowed us to know what the degree of control perceived by University students was around the following core competencies: application of knowledge, reasoning, problem solving, analysis of information, communication, autonomous learning, ethical sense, creativity, teamwork and evaluation. The conclusions of the study showed that first year University students think that they cannot find their own training needs, they cannot manage educational strategies for autonomous training and they cannot cope with activities in an original and innovative way, among others.