Abstract:

We are in a constant change and development society, where event are occurring that will transform the education at the university, and some of those events are already doing it. In many European countries there is a long tradition of teachers training in different fields of education, which in Spain until a couple of years was solved with the training of university graduates. They attended a short course of Pedagogical Aptitude to be able to teach. With the creation of the EHEA (European Higher Education Area) there is a new qualification that replaces this teacher training course and would make possible the improvement of basic training necessary to face teaching at all educational levels. For this, the teacher’s Master's Degree was created.

Nevertheless, we still consider the problem of how to form a university professor. He/She finishes his studies, his doctoral thesis…, but has never had any contact with issues related to teaching. Zabalza (2002) says that faculty members are facing challenges and problems of considerable importance and significance, responding to basic and common issues for which they have to be prepared. Aspects related to skills, motivation of students or the domain of resources for curriculum development materials, so it is necessary to address these issues and propose valid models for teacher training that will be incorporated into university teaching.

EHEA is committed to advice and guidance, which implies a major change in the approach to teaching methods. Within these methods, we will focus on mentoring, which is assuming an important role in the teaching-learning process. This process creates a relationship between two key figures: mentor and mentee, both of whom set a space for reflection and transfer of knowledge and experience. At the same time, it raises the possibility of sharing strategies, analyze, compare and reflect on professional practice and make improvements by being guided and supported. From the definition provided by the authors Pinto Molina, M. and Uribe Tirado, A. (2010), it could be implied that the mentoring is to develop and create relationships, where one person invests his/her time, know-how and make an effort in order to foster the development of another person in the field of knowledge and skills.

The Mentoring program tries to innovate in many ways as a means to a higher level of quality in teaching and research within the universities. The objective of this work is to address the issue of university teacher training through mentoring. The experience that we present in this work has been to describe the actions carried out at the University of Huelva, to train and to assist new teachers in these new skills required from the EHEA through the Master of University Teaching.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Novel Teachers, University Teaching, Mentoring