PEDAGOGY STUDIES AT THE SPANISH UNIVERSITY:

valuing the past, attending to the present, projecting the future

Abstract

 Pedagogy studies began at the Spanish University more than a century ago. Its presence and its importance, although variable, occupy a prominent place among the Sciences of Education. We describe the origin and some more significant antecedents of these university studies: educative motivation of the Elizabethan liberals who promoted the pedagogical training of teachers and inspectors of primary instruction; Chair of Higher Pedagogy created in 1904 at the University of Madrid and Sections of Pedagogy at the Faculties of Philosophy and Letters of Madrid and Barcelona in 1932 and 1933, whose purposes included the pedagogical training of all teachers. Probably, from a structural point of view, the establishment of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), created for some twenty years, has caused a substantial change in this career; both in content, characteristics and methodological model. Around it we describe what the main objectives and competences are, as well as the profile and training of the professionals who graduate from the Degree in Pedagogy. We conclude the article with two other contributions. We take a look at the current moment and assess certain problems associated with these studies and the discipline itself; On the other hand, we describe some of the most significant professional opportunities that pedagogues have in our country. All of them, for the most part, are areas that are related to the training received during the degree and also to the new job sites that are managed in the current market.