Developing Transversal Competencies in the Sociodramatic Space: Narrative of a Curricular Experience in Higher Education

Sofia Veiga

doi:10.3390/educsci12020125

Abstract

Higher Education plays a decisive role in the training of competent professionals and active, responsible and critical-thinking citizens. In addition to acquiring rigorous technical–scientific knowledge specific to their degree, students are also expected to develop a range of transversal skills essential for a successful academic and professional career. This article aims to narrate an experience of obtaining a Social Education degree. Since its origins, it has been assumed that students in this field should: (a) acquire specific technical–scientific knowledge; (b) get to know themselves as individuals; and (c) develop a set of transversal skills essential to relationships, some of the most salient being active listening, empathic capacity, acceptance and respect for others, trust, curiosity, creativity, confidentiality and a reflective attitude. It thus aggregates a set of Curricular Units whose main purpose is the personal, social and professional development of students, formed within active methodologies. Sociodrama is one such methodology of teaching and learning in the context of two Curricular Units of this degree, and this article focuses on my experience lived within the scope of these units.

Highlights

In recent decades, European Higher Education has undergone relevant changes, resulting from a period of intense massification, based on the adherence to the principles of the Bologna Declaration [1,2,3] and from the demands of a competitive and constantly changing labor market.Everyday life, characterized by unpredictability, instability and mutability, has demanded a rethink of the training on offer, which is the curricula, the teaching–learning and assessment methodologies, and professor and student roles and relationships
The confrontation with an unexpected pandemic situation required Higher Education Institutions to analyze and recreate themselves in order to train competent professionals who will be responsible and proactive citizens committed to societal challenges
There is a multiplicity of transversal competencies that can be developed by the Sociodrama method, such as empathy, active listening, tolerance, participatory decisionmaking, collaborative strategies, teamwork, commitment, assertiveness, stress and time management, critical thinking, confidentiality, leadership and team management, social responsibility, emotional management, conflict resolution, flexibility and decision making

Summary

Introduction

European Higher Education has undergone relevant changes, resulting from a period of intense massification, based on the adherence to the principles of the Bologna Declaration [1,2,3] and from the demands of a competitive and constantly changing labor market. Despite the fact that the acquisition and comprehension of specific technical and scientific knowledge is fundamental for the construction of a professional identity and praxis, this knowledge in itself seems insufficient to respond to the demands of a challenging, competitive and rapidly changing labor market and, simultaneously, of the role of citizen that is expected to be active and intervening Within this framework, it is essential that students—future professionals—acquire and develop a set of competencies, generic or transversal, that allow them to respond in active, positive, spontaneous and creative ways to the multiple challenges that they will face throughout their life paths. There is an importance in: (a) curricula being sufficiently open to the needs and particularities of students; (b) teaching and learning methodologies being active, creative and innovative; (c) stimulating interpersonal relationships and cooperation between individuals; (d) multidisciplinary approaches; and (e) continuous assessment models All these aspects enable students to become authors and actors committed to a meaningful and profound learning process [1,4]. They should have training that develops their “know-knowing” (knowledge), “knowdoing” (skills), “know-being” (attitudes, social skills) [16,17] and “know-transforming oneself” (openness to change) [17]

Sociodrama in the Training of Social Educators

Developing Transversal Competencies with the Body in Action

The Students’ Voices

Conclusions