Abstract:

This paper, based on the Junta de Andalucía Educational Research Programe PIV-006/13, outlines an educational study whose main objective is to analyze and assess the pedagogical repercussions key competences have had on Pre-school text books. Teaching staff from the University of Jaen and various Pre-school centers in the province of Jaen have worked on the study during school year 2013-2014.

The origin of this study lies in the continuous concern present in educational centers to find a methodology which facilitates improvement and change to benefit the needs, interests and demands of today’s citizens and our students in particular. Observation of our society, young people, children and, of course, their families will determine their possible interests and probable demands (Cemades, 2008). Consequently, we believe that one of the key questions in our day to day work in the preschool classroom is to know how text books have developed and been adapted to different changes in the curriculum, and if they respond to the teaching of key competences established in the current Preschool Curriculum (LOE, 2006) in the classroom.

It is a fact that the text book today, if we compare it with the text book we used in our day, shows many similarities, although it is true to say that the illustrations are more modern and attractive, the paper is better quality and the colours more intense, the methodological guide lines are provided by the publishers, but they do not seem to reflect the changes undergone in our society, they don’t contemplate the progress made in the scientific field and, of course, they do not specify the changes in our educational legislation.

With this study, we wish to make absolutely clear that if we critically analyze what the text books want to transmit to our students, we will find repetitive, static or contents which are hard to justify for students of this age (Rodríguez, 2011). In addition, whether they are considered decisive or not in the learning-teaching process (Valera, 2013), their potential has not been established; what is more, many are of the opinion that they don’t really facilitate adequate learning.

Therefore, we have analyzed four of the main Spanish publishers from the perspective of Preschool teaching staff. In this analysis we have focused on the three dimensions of this learning stage: Self Understanding and Personal Autonomy, Knowledge of the Environment and Language, Communication and Creative Development. We have also included a forth methodological dimension. To carry out the study we have designed a questionnaire containing 73 questions which have been ratified by experts. The results and conclusions demonstrate that the text book in itself does not respond to the key competence model demanded by our legislators.

Keywords:

Textbooks, methodology, Basic Skills, Early Childhood Education.