School systems are shifting towards forms of post-bureaucratic governance (PBG), implying higher levels of school autonomy, choice, and performance-based management. Under this governance approach, which combines forms of administrative and market accountability, schools face greater levels of competition and external pressure to perform. Schools…

This paper analyses, using a cross-sectional design, the relationship between academic qualifications during the initial training of primary school teachers and their professional development. Among all graduates of 13 promotions, from year 2004 to 2016, we selected the 15% of those students with the best qualifications and the 15% with the worst…

This paper addresses an explorative case study on Spanish primary pre-service teachers' (PSTs) emotions about, and their interest in, insects. The study is part of a teachers' training programme on insects and the problem of the decline in pollinators conducted at the University of Santiago de Compostela, using scientific practice-based learning…

Soft skills enable the individual to successfully face the problems and challenges of a complex society in flux and under constant uncertainty. Music, in its different forms of expression, is here introduced as an ideal tool for the development of intrapersonal and action skills such as adaptability, optimism and proactivity. In this paper we…

This paper presents an exploratory study to examine the practices of outstanding primary school teachers in their professional development for ICT integration in teaching and learning, as a means of understanding how their learning ecologies develop and function. Outstanding teachers in the context of this study are teachers who innovate…

This interpretative, cross-sectional study analysed the perceptions of students in their last year of their bachelor's in primary school education with regard to educational inquiry. It explored their understanding of what this concept means and its benefits, as well as the procedures, stakeholders and competences involved in research. The data…

Discussions on the educational potential of school football range from its social acceptance to the pedagogically desirable lessons that can be drawn from it. The aim is to understand the process of institutionalisation in school football and the main formative challenges it entails. An ethnographic multiple case study is presented. The sample…

The provision of CLIL teachers in Spain has outpaced the growth of the so-called bilingual programs, as there are no specific training requirements for CLIL teachers who are either content or language specialists. So, CLIL teachers have a preexistent teacher identity that could influence their pedagogical choices. This study examines how teachers…

Inclusive school requires the coexistence of what is perceived as normal and what is seen as pathologically different. Considering the growing pathologization of childhood, attempt is made to know the view of the students that do not have any diagnosed mental disorder on the ones that do have and the teachers' view on the inclusion of these…

Teachers' attitudes towards technology are crucial to foster its use in schools and to improve its educational affordances and this is still a topic for research. This article relates the attitudes school teachers have towards information and communication technologies (ICT) with the different levels of technology integration in schools. A…

This article reports on results from a multi-case study on the implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in bilingual elementary schools in a monolingual region of Spain (Cantabria) by examining four school teachers' CLIL instructional practices to teach content in a foreign language (English). The study examined whether…

Leadership is critical to shaping and supporting individual teachers' endeavors to integrate new programs into their teaching. To determine the necessary support, leaders must be aware of the needs of the school and its individuals. In understanding their needs, leaders can then support teachers through appropriate professional development and the…

Several international reports promote the use of the inquiry teaching methodology for improvements in science education at elementary school. Nevertheless, research indicates that pre-service elementary teachers have insufficient experience with this methodology and when they try to implement it, the theory they learnt in their university…

In this paper, we describe a training proposal for future Infants and Primary School teachers. The paper is based on a collaborative proposal of research and reflection that has taken place between the university tutor and a group of students at the University of Cantabria (Spain). The aim of the paper was to promote a more reflexive and socially…

Professional development that aims to build school change capacity requires spaces for collaborative action and reflection. These spaces should promote learning and foster skills for distributed leadership in managing school change. The present study analyses the case of the Seminar for Critical Citizenship (SCC) established by teachers of infant,…