What do Rural School Teachers think about the Dual/Alternating Cycle Training System? The case of EFA in Galicia

Abstract

The Family Education Alternating Cycle Centers (CEFFA) are promoted by local associations in which families are the majority and the ones who implement educational and development actions under the Dual/Alternating Cycle System. In Galicia there are three rural schools of this type called Escuelas Familiares Agrarias (EFA). The perceptions of the different actors of the CEFFA are being analyzed in an international investigation that involves schools in 15 countries, including the EFA of Galicia, and the authors of this article are participating in it.

Our study is focused on one of the key actors of the CEFFA: the teacher. First, we will define how the Dual/Alternating Cycle System is understood in the CEFFA, as well as the multifunctional profile of their teachers who, beyond teaching, have a territorial leadership role and accompaniment to families and other local actors. Afterwards, we will analyze the perceptions that teachers have on various key aspects of the CEFFA (Dual/Alternation Cycle System itself, the local association, the integral formation of students and the territorial development). Likewise, we will provide clues for the design of specific training that responds to the personal and professional expectations of teachers and the needs that the study itself has revealed.