The development of learning to learn in Spain

Abstract

In this article, we describe how the concept of ‘learning to learn’ has developed in Spain, and give you an overview of relevant Spanish projects. First, we sketch out how this approach has developed in Spanish educational laws. We then give examples of research projects, assessment instruments and instructional programmes pertinent to each of the four main concepts of learning to learn in Spain—study techniques, learning to reason, learning strategies and metacognitive learning. We also try to focus on the social and emotional aspects of learning to learn. To this end, we discuss cooperative learning, the parent's role in academic self-regulation, motivation and self-esteem. We come to the conclusion that the Spanish school system and Spanish research groups are both profoundly interested in learning to learn. Nevertheless, we still find weak points in the results achieved by students and teachers, as well as in the theoretical models and assessment tools. Therefore, we propose some improvements to learning to learn in Spain.

Keywords:

• Curriculum competencies
• Learning strategies
• Learning to learn
• Metacognitive learning
• Socio-emotional competencies
• Spain

Notes

1. Spain is a member of the European Network of Policy Makers for the Evaluation of Education Systems that is exploring a pilot survey across different European countries.