Abstract:

Improving the quality of university education received by future student teachers is a constant challenge for the progress of the education. One of the subjects most valued by students in these studies is “practices in schools”. These subjects enable the future teacher to have direct contact with real contexts in which they will soon exercise their professional practice. Students are guided by teachers with experience in this field and understand in practice some theoretical aspects studied in the degree. This study focuses on analysing the pre-service practices offered to students of Early Childhood Education Degree; on the one hand, in a general way, on the other hand, in a more specific way, analysing the position that music occupies in these practices. This study, which is part of a larger one, is methodologically framed, from a qualitative perspective, as a theoretical study; it consists of the descriptive and comparative analysis of the data obtained through documentary sources. Specifically, a documentary and theoretical reflection study is carried out, analysing in a descriptive and comparative way the different documentary sources obtained from several Spanish universities. These universities have been selected for their geographical diversity and their different educational offerings. The documentary sources were the information that each university offers on its website in relation to school practices, as well as the subject guides. The results of this descriptive and comparative analysis between universities, show especially the objectives that the practices have in the curriculum, the courses in which they are offered, the specific weight of the same in relation to the rest of subjects and the place that music occupies in them. As conclusions, various reflections are offered to improve the proposal of pre-service practices in Early Childhood Education Degree.

Keywords:

Early Childhood Education Degree, pre-service practices, musical training, university education.