The school year has come to an end and after two courses full of challenges and difficulties, the most important thing is to rest and recharge batteries. It is also the time to take stock and think about continuous training in formal and informal settings , in a context of profound educational changes .
We usually talk about the month of July as the training month, because there are few occasions to train through a demanding course inside and outside the classroom, but if you are late for the registrations for this month there are also many opportunities that offer flexibility during the year, in person and online.
Continuous training must take into account that it is aimed at already trained and competent professionals, often with extensive experience. Therefore, it must respond to the needs for specialization or updating of knowledge and must be as specific as possible.
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7 key aspects of continuous training
There are few professions more demanding and important than teaching, which implies, as you know, preparation and many other tasks outside of class. In this sense, training and resources are two of the most important aspects so that teaching can be carried out with guarantees of devoting energy to what really matters.
However, the offer of continuous training is increasing and more diverse. For this reason, we want to help you choose by collecting the essential aspects that it must offer and the characteristics that it must have so that you can take advantage of its benefits.
educational innovation
The best way to learn about new educational trends is to study their principles and applications, even in the hands of other teachers capable of transmitting their experience. It is evident that there are no master formulas and the strategies and tools must be applied depending on the characteristics of your classroom .
For this reason, knowing the design of different didactic proposals that have been contrasted can help you to choose what suits you best, also preserving what already works for you.
Thematic specialization
Beyond pedagogical training, continuous training in the area you teach is important, both to link the contents to current events and to continue specializing in aspects of your own area.
A certain historical period, a science in the context of the fourth industrial revolution, an author and the characteristics of his literary work… you can always deepen, and from this, enrich the didactic proposal in the classroom with new ideas.
Communication and positive leadership
From the use of non-violent language to the promotion of dialogue, communication management is key to generating a suitable environment in the classroom and a climate of mutual trust throughout the educational community.
Communication resources and techniques , such as active listening, have been gaining weight in continuous training and are decisive in the functioning of a class, so that it becomes a research group that facilitates collaborative learning.Female teacher studying to illustrate continuing teacher education
Digital tools
The acquisition of basic technological skills and a critical spirit in the use of digital tools is one of the main objectives of the LOMLOE for all educational stages. There is no better way to contribute to its development in students than knowing its limits and possibilities.
Beyond training as a user, those courses that provide you with the fundamentals of techno-pedagogical design and teach you different ways of integrating them into didactic programming are especially recommended: a good criterion for selecting them.
virtual learning environments
As a result of everything that has happened in the last two years, many of the 2.0 tools that already existed to create online content have been perfected, but new ones with many educational features have also appeared and continue to appear .
From the creation, editing and distribution of audiovisual content that stimulates the participation of all students, to the gamification possibilities offered by different platforms that we use in a limited way, there is a wide range of permanent training to be able to design rigorous distance learning and stimulating .
Conflict management and creative problem solving
Conflict is something natural in any human relationship, and that is why it is so important to know how to manage it both in the classroom and in tutorials. Again, there are no magic solutions to real problems, but there is training in specific techniques .
There are courses with extensive experience in the analysis of the causes of conflicts, action plans with specific proposals to put into practice in the classroom and tools for mediation and the promotion of dialogue.
Didactic tools and active methodologies
What is Project Based Learning (PBL)? What must be taken into account to plan and develop a project in the classroom? What do I need to apply a Flipped Classroom methodology ? These are questions that you may have already asked yourself, but when you return to them you always learn something new .
In a context of change -and in Spain, with the entry into force of the LOMLOE-, both methodological training and the discovery of tools must have an important role in continuous training: knowing the principles of Universal Learning Design (DUA) and its implications for didactic programming, evaluating competency-based learning, applying Design Thinking to problem solving…
