The “learning to learn” competence in Health Sciences. A qualitative study
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION. “Learning to learn” (LTL) is a key competence proposed by the European Commission for the educational systems of its member countries (EC, 2005, 2018). However, to date, scholars have not reached an agreement on what “learning to learn” entails to establish a required theoretical model to incorporate this competence into curricula. Thus, our research team aimed to design and validate an integral model to serve as a reference for educational intervention. This model comprises five dimensions: cognitive, metacognitive, affective-motivational, social-relational, and ethical, and includes 20 subdimensions. The first three dimensions originate from strategic learning and self-regulated learning theories, the fourth from the socio-cognitive approach, and the fifth is an original contribution from our research team. Several groups, including students, teachers, professionals, and employers from Health Sciences, were consulted to validate this model. METHOD. To do so, we employed qualitative methods, conducting four focus groups (n=20), in which participants were asked a general question about LTL and their responses were recorded. Later, the recordings were transcribed and processed using Atlas ti.8 to compare the coded contents with the theoretical model. The presence and relevance of the initial model’s dimensions and subdimensions were analyzed based on the frequency of comments, connections, and interrelationships. RESULTS. The results confirmed the initial model, as participants highlighted all dimensions and almost all subdimensions. DISCUSSION. A future research line would be to develop a standardized assessment instrument for university students based on this theoretical model. Based on these findings, the limitations of our work and implications for practice are discussed.
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