The Future of Education

A group of persons in the University of Alcala (Spain) with different profiles (teachers, psychologists and experts in the world of work) have been working in several national and international projects in order to develop basic skills and competences in different educational levels: primary, secondary and university. One of these projects was the European Comenius Project ´PEC: European Science Teachers: Scientific Knowledge, Linguistic Skills and Digital Media´, financed by the European Commission, this project focused on secondary school pupils, and designed a teaching methodology to develop scientific and linguistics skills in pupils in a transversal way using authentic materials. Based on the results of this project, we considered the possibility of transferring this experience to university level, so we prepared a subject for the Bachelor Degree in Pharmacy. The subject was intended to be optional as basic skills and competences were worked in a transversal way, a rather innovative experience at the Faculty of Pharmacy. One of the main aims of this subject was to act as a link for the transition from secondary school to university and to the world of work, consequently it was addressed to students in their first year at the University though students from other forms also joined the course as they were aware of the lack they suffered in some competences, for instance, communication, digital competence used in a significant way, abstract thinking, etc. Finally, about fifty students attended the course.

In this paper we present this experience describing the teaching team and highlighting the importance of being a multidisciplinary team, the competences and skills developed and the subject: aims, planning, contents, materials, methodology and evaluation. We will emphasize the relevance of the methodology which is based on work group, collaborative learning, the use of authentic materials and real situations. Various didactic activities, addressed to Pharmacy students, used in this course will also be presented in this paper and discussed during the presentation in the Conference.