Teacher Training through Cooperative Work VÍCTOR M. GRASSA 1 , JAIME LLORET 2 , CRISTINA RODRÍGUEZ 3 , LUCÍA ROMERO 4 , ESTHER SANABRIA 5 AND VICENTE SANCHIS 6 Polytechnic University of Valencia Camino Vera s/n SPAIN 1 vicgrami@ega.upv.es; 2 jlloret@dcom.upv.es; 3 mcrodmon@ice.upv.es; 4 lurope@eln.upv.es; 5 esanabri@mat.upv.es; 6 visanca1@idm.upv.es Abstract: - Many training strategies for teacher training have been developed to train university lecturers. Our objective in this paper is to analyze the cooperative work as a strategy for training university teachers in the context of a Training Program for new lecturers at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. We will describe the training Program and its key for training university teachers: Base-Group strategy. Further on we will explain its norms and how they work. Finally we will analyze the advantages and drawbacks found when they have been used. Key-Words: - Teacher training, training strategies, cooperative work. 1 Introduction Starting in the academic year 1998-1999, the Teacher Training Institute of the Polytechnic University of Valencia has been offering an initial training course for university lecturers called Initial Pedagogical Training for University Lecturers (FIPPU). The objective of this course [1] is to acquire the basic competence in order to start and successfully develop a teaching career at university level. We divide this competence in three fields: 1. Pedagogical competence • To build the teaching-learning process • To manage the working methods and learners’ learning tasks. • To use different strategies to communicate pedagogically. • To use correctly different resources in the teaching and learning process. • To manage interaction between teachers and learners. • Learners’ tutorship throughout their studies. 2. Institutional competence. • To fully educate learners. • To work in cross-disciplinary teams with a focus on educational innovation projects. 3. Social- professional competence. • To develop thought processes in the teaching methods. • To face duties and ethical dilemmas found in the university teaching activities. In order to achieve this competence there have been formulated several training strategies, one of them being cooperative work through small groups called base-groups. This way, teachers can use their own experience in order to motivate cooperative work in their students [2, 3]. The paper is structured as follows. Section 2 will describe the University training Program FIPPU. Its key for training teachers, namely Base-Group strategy, is explained in section 3. Section 4 shows the questionnaire used for obtaining the advantages and drawbacks of the base-group strategy. Results obtained and our analysis are given in section 5. Finally, the conclusions and further research are explained in section 6. 2 What is FIPPU The Initial Pedagogical Training for University Lecturers (FIPPU) is held along one academic year and lasts 250 hours, ranking from September to October the following year. The training activities are developed with the assistance of experts on university pedagogy, scholars of the university, tutors, and advisers of the Teacher Training Institute (ICE). Several teaching methodologies are used in the programme, whose basic principle is flexibility, both in its progress as in its adapting to the individual needs and situations of each participant. The structure of the programme is mainly divided in four kinds of work: • Core Theoretical Training, which consists of theoretical seminars whose main focus is on the competence to be developed. Proceedings of the 3rd WSEAS/IASME International Conference on Educational Technologies, Arcachon, France, October 13-15, 2007 385