Proyectos bilingües en los centros educativos de la Región de Murciaperspectivas de los docentes

Abstract

Considering the diversity of factors associated with learning a second language, that, in turn, have a great influence on the success of bilingual education, and bearing in mind that teachers are the main connoisseurs of the benefits and downsides of the implementation of bilingual projects, the general objective of this thesis is to know the perspective of teachers attached to the bilingual program of the Region of Murcia since its implementation in the 2009/2010 school year in relation to the following aspects: teacher training, coordination, language assistants, teaching and assessment, resources and incentives, pupils, educational community and teacher satisfaction, prospects for the future of primary education, continuity in the stage of compulsory secondary education and proposals for improvement. Given the nature of the information sought, and to approach the perspective of the teacher, we opted for a research methodology that is eminently descriptive-exploratory not experimental since it is a question of providing an overview of the implementation of bilingual projects in the Region of Murcia and as a tool for collecting information open-ended interviews with a medium-low and semi-structured level. This interview was carried out with 78 teachers from both public and private schools of Pre-School and Primary Education, distributed by the different districts of the Region of Murcia selected according to a stratified sampling. Once the information collected was transcribed, the qualitative analysis was carried out. According to the thematic criterion, the information was grouped around categories that can be considered as a map of meanings that faithfully reflects the content of the interviews and allows us to interpret the valuations of the teachers. The main results show uncovered training gaps; It is necessary to consolidate an interdisciplinary culture based on coordination as a curricular proposal that allows to teach and learn in a different way, coordination that must go beyond the same school, as the exchange of experiences with other schools constitutes an essential source of training for teachers and an example of "good practice", with respect to the language assistant, there are differences between public and private-concerted schools as well as the contribution of language assistants to the development of second language competence in bilingual programs, especially in their production and pronunciation, leaving aside their contribution to the development of cultural competence, in relation to teaching, enrolling in bilingual education entails a change in the methodologies used by teachers to facilitate the understanding and assimilation of academic content in a foreign language, with respect to resources and incentives, there are differences between public and private-concerted schools; in relation to the pupils the data show an improvement of the academic results in English language of the participating students. The implementation of bilingual education demands greater involvement of families in the follow-up and accompaniment of the educational process of their children. Despite the widespread dissatisfaction of the participating teachers due to the lack of involvement and collaboration of the Ministry responsible for education with the bilingual program, the evaluation of teachers about teaching through a second language is satisfactory because they perceive that bilingual programs work for their interest, their dedication, their will and their commitment to bilingual teaching.