Secondary teachers’ competences in Spain: The evolving teacher profile in initial teacher education programs

Abstract

In this paper, we address the evolution of the teacher profile in Spain and its impact on the professional identity of secondary education teachers. These issues are keys to understanding the profession and assisting the forward path of professional improvement. To this end, we will carry out an analysis through the Spanish educational policy and initial teacher education programs during the last 50 years. The final discussion offers a reflection on the current training model and the challenges that still remain. We would like to highlight two specific findings from this research: on the one hand, the importance of designing a shared teacher competence framework that will guide teacher policies and be applied to practice; on the other hand, the need to rebuild the professional identity of teachers, rethinking the architecture of the current training scheme and placing professional practice as the goal of initial teacher education.