TEACHER TRAINING: A KEY FACTOR FOR THE SUCCESS ON THE APPLICATION OF ACTIVE LEARNING METHODOLOGIES

The European Higher Education Area requires the application of active teaching new methods to promote in the students the development of skills and competencies demanded by the market. Numerous studies have focused on the application of new methodologies as project-based learning, problem-based learning or case method, among others, and have analyzed their effectiveness in the acquisition and development of the required skills.

In general, these studies have assumed the capacity and competence of lecturers to carry out successfully the application of these new methodologies. In order to ensure the success of these methodologies it is essential the role as a catalyst and facilitator of student learning of the lecturer. The new approaches by themselves will not guarantee improvement in the learning process. It is necessary lecturers to be motivated and trained in these methodologies. However, to date, lecturers have been required no training in teaching methodologies. Therefore, this training has depended on the motivation and willingness of lecturers themselves. In this respect universities are carrying out policies to improve the ability of lecturers through innovative learning and teaching programs.

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of teacher training in new methodologies on the success of its application. With this purpose we conducted a study among first-year students of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of the University of the Basque Country. Project Based Learning was applied by several lecturers for the learning of financial accounting. The results show that the application of this methodology achieves better marks and higher student satisfaction with this methodology than with the traditional one.

This study found out that those groups of students whose lecturers were trained in the methodology obtained better marks, higher satisfaction with the methodology and higher evaluation of the subject than those groups whose lecturers were no trained in the methodology. In consequence we conclude that teacher training in the methodology is a significant variable on the success of the methodology.