Academic training in Spanish universities for the didactic use of cinema in pre-school and primary education

Abstract

One of the characteristic features of current society is the relevance of technology and audiovisual media. This fact has generated demands in the educational field to adapt objectives and methodologies to non-textual languages. Among the predominant audiovisual media is the cinema, which has many potentialities as a didactic resource. Therefore, the aim of this study was to find out the training that students of the Teacher's Degree in Spanish universities receive for the didactic use of cinema through a nationwide research with survey design in which 4659 students, belonging to all the Autonomous Communities and 58 universities, participated. The questionnaire called Perceptions about the potentialities of cinema as a didactic resource in pre-school and primary classrooms (PECID) was designed ad hoc. This questionnaire, which consists of 45 items, has a section that deals with the training received for the educational use of cinema. The Spanish universities offering the Teacher Degree were identified and contacted for the dissemination of the questionnaire. The results obtained showed that 88.4% had not received training. Furthermore, 250 subjects were identified in which film content is taught, mostly in the second and third year and in the area of Didactics and School Organization. It was also found that the most frequent activities carried out are the viewing of films with individual answers to questions and the film forum. This pioneering study in Spain aims to provide information as a basis for further academic training in cinema as a resource of high educational value.