Competencias del Grado en Pedagogía: Percepción desde el punto de vista de los egresados / Competências da Licenciatura em Pedagogia: Percepção do ponto de vista dos licenciados / Competences of the Degree in Pedagogy: Perception from the point of view of the graduates

El presente trabajo pretende evaluar el grado de adquisición y la relevancia de las competencias desarrolladas en el Grado en Pedagogía de la Universidad de Salamanca (España), así como identificar las posibles diferencias de percepción entre egresados empleados y no empleados. Tras la aplicación de un cuestionario ad hoc validado por expertos a 78 egresados y el análisis cuantitativo de los datos obtenidos, se encuentra que el nivel de adquisición y la relevancia de las competencias promovidas en la titulación se adecuan a los requerimientos del mundo socio-laboral, advirtiendo que los egresados empleados otorgan una mayor importancia a las competencias específicas, las cuales se identifican como objetivo prioritario de refuerzo en las estrategias formativas.

O presente trabalho pretende avaliar o grau de aquisição e a relevância das competências desenvolvidas na Licenciatura em Pedagogia da Universidade de Salamanca (Espanha), bem como identificar as possíveis diferenças de percepção entre graduados empregados e não-empregados. Após a aplicação de um questionário ad hoc validado por especialistas a 78 graduados e a análise quantitativa dos dados obtidos, constata-se que o nível de aquisição e a relevância das competências promovidas no diploma são adaptadas às exigências do mundo social e trabalhista, advertindo que os graduados empregados dão maior importância às competências específicas, que são identificadas como objetivo prioritário de reforço nas estratégias de treinamento.

The article aims to assess the degree of acquisition and importance of the competencies developed in the Degree in Pedagogy in the University of Salamanca (Spain), differentiating between employed and non-employed graduates. 78 graduates filled an ad-hoc questionnaire validated by experts. After the quantitative analysis of the data gathered, the results allowed us to conclude that the competences of the degree adequately fit in with the demands from the social-labour world, and that graduates who are currently employed perceive specific competences as more important. Therefore, these competences are identified as a priority target for reinforcement within educational strategies in the degree.

An Exploration of Factors Linked to Academic Performance in PISA 2018 Through Data Mining Techniques.

International large-scale assessments, such as PISA, provide structured and static data. However, due to its extensive databases, several researchers place it as a reference in Big Data in Education. With the goal of exploring which factors at country, school and student level have a higher relevance in predicting student performance, this paper proposes an Educational Data Mining approach to detect and analyze factors linked to academic performance. To this end, we conducted a secondary data analysis and built decision trees (C4.5 algorithm) to obtain a predictive model of school performance. Specifically, we selected as predictor variables a set of socioeconomic, process and outcome variables from PISA 2018 and other sources (World Bank, 2020). Since the unit of analysis were schools from all the countries included in PISA 2018 (n = 21,903), student and teacher predictor variables were imputed to the school database. Based on the available student performance scores in Reading, Math, and Science, we applied k-means clustering to obtain a categorized (three categories) target variable of global school performance. Results show the existence of two main branches in the decision tree, split according to the schools' mean socioeconomic status (SES). While performance in high-SES schools is influenced by educational factors such as metacognitive strategies or achievement motivation, performance in low-SES schools is affected in greater measure by country-level socioeconomic indicators such as GDP, and individual educational indicators are relegated to a secondary level. Since these evidences are in line and delve into previous research, this work concludes by analyzing its potential contribution to support the decision making processes regarding educational policies.