The practicum, the backbone of the course

A very significant number of people that enrol at the University have their sights set on a particular profession. The classroom can provide an important foundation of knowledge to this end, but it is necessary to ensure a solid and clear link between this base and the reality of the profession we are training people for. This is where the practicum comes in, providing the real backbone of each degree, designed to prepare students for the reality of the profession with the highest level of competence possible.

The overlap between the knowledge gained through academic activity and professional experience is the foundation of excellence that we seek in initial training.

The European Higher Education Area. Life-long learning

In the current context, in line with the European Higher Education Area, initial training still puts greatest emphasis on the relationship it should have with the future professional reality. In the face of this approach, it is our job to put students and teaching staff on the right track when it comes to new educational and learning procedures. Due to its characteristics, the practicum fosters a deeper approach to this new dimension of contextualised and collaborative learning, at the same time as encouraging each student to work independently.

Life-long learning is another area where European universities converge. Professional training should give people the skills to keep the connection between their initial training and continuous professional development strong and alive. Once again the practicum has great potential to act as a bridge between these concepts.

Agile and functional development

To define it briefly, the practicum of any of the FEP courses involves the following important steps:

• The Faculty makes students aware of the placements available at centres for the following year. This announcement is usually made between April and May.
• Each student has the chance to select the placement or placements most suited to them and their needs from those available. At this point, each course has its own methods to assign placements, which are always structured and known by everyone before being applied. The aim is to assign a placement to each student before the end of the academic year, so that everybody knows where they will be doing their placement before the summer of the year in which the placements are carried out.
• An academic tutor is assigned to the each student’s practicum by the Course Coordinator. In some cases this assignment can be made before the end of the academic year, and in others it is carried out during the first weeks of the practicum.
• From then on, and following the timing of each course, the practicums can begin. At this time a team is formed of the student, their academic tutor and their professional tutor who, within the framework of the plan of the corresponding practicum, is able to independently take decisions specifically relating to the practicum. It is understood, therefore, that each student’s practicum is unique and can be maximised as far as the team mentioned allows.

Improvement and innovation

Taking the Practicum Improvement Plan developed in the Faculty in 2000 as a starting point, and the evaluations of its implementation that were carried out, as well as the reports from academic year 2004-2005 that were specifically commissioned, the Practicum Commission has defined the lines of improvement that would be interesting to explore. They all have to do with the relationship between the academic world and the professional, according to the specific nature of each course, understanding that its cohesion has to provide good initial training as a result.

Evaluation and qualification

Placement evaluation and monitoring should also be a priority when working towards improvement. For this reason the Faculty, through the Course and Practicum Coordinators, is open to any comments and suggestions to improve the programme beyond the assessment processes in place for each practicum from anyone involved in the practicum, whether they are students or academic and professional tutors.

Agreement for the exemption of the external stay of the curricular practicals

Recommendations for recording audio and images as part of the FEP courses and particularly practical class work, the bachelor's thesis and the master's thesis

Criteria for opening new places for curricular practicals at the request of students of the Bachelor's degrees in Social Education, Education, Psychology and Social Work