Pedagogical couples in the practicum of a Bachelor Degree in primary education: educational innovation in the University of Balearic Islands

Background/Objective: The education system in Spanish universities evolves continuously, especially since 2010, when the Bologna Plan was incorporated. Some changes were needed in order to improve the quality of the practicum, which is a crucial subject on the academic program for the primary education bachelor. This investigation shows a pilot experience, and the aim of this study is to design a new approach of the practicum in the Primary Education Bacherlor’s Degree in the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB). Methods: 8 university teachers from the department of physical education (PE), 22 school PE teachers from 17 different schools and 44 students participated in this project. The practicum had a duration of 8 weeks, and the whole project a duration of 1 year. The innovation aspects are the pedagogical couple methodology, the participation of the students in the evaluation process and the type of homework students did. During the whole period there were internal and external evaluations to detect which measures worked and which did not.Results: The use of pedagogical couples, with a combined auto-evaluation, co-evaluation and hetero-evaluation, and the type of documents students had to produce as homework are the three pillars of the project, which has had good results in satisfaction and learning according to university teachers, school teachers and students. Conclusions: The results from this pilot project were positive, with a high level of satisfaction from the students, school teachers and university teachers. Students improved their knowledge working with the pedagogical couple system, and the homeworks students did were more motivating than in the past.