Social Interaction: A Crucial Means to Promote Sustainability in Initial Teacher Training

Abstract

This study aims to identify the set of elements in the educational process that affect the creation of a teaching profile consistent with the principles of sustainability. In this research, we focus on identifying those sustainability attributes related to understanding social interaction and its role in the learning process of logical-mathematical knowledge. Social interaction is an essential part of the principle of collaboration. The study participants were 133 future teachers, students of the degree in Early Childhood Education at the Universidad de Cádiz (Spain). Qualitative methods and techniques were used to collect data, and mixed methods and techniques were employed for their analysis. The data relating to the student’s perception of the importance of social interaction in learning were gathered through the final reports produced by the students. The data were processed by classifying them into categories and subcategories. The meaning condensation method used enabled identifying 33 sustainability attributes linked to socio-cultural learning. Those attributes identify and describe the internal dynamics of cooperative learning and show the synergies and interrelationships between social interactions, socio-cognitive conflict and language. The results stress the importance of a meaningful understanding of the role of social interaction in learning in order to promote the principles of sustainability.