DCP_Tusele is a support system for tutors of teachers or future teachers of Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE). The project responds to a pressing need. Never before has there been a fundamental reflection engaged by a transnational team on how to equip tutors with the skills required to guarantee effective and efficient internship practices. In the absence of this reflection, and in the absence of the project that emanates from it, tutors still have to rely again and again on their own teaching practices, without a structural framework or guidelines to guide them. Moreover, the organisation of training courses as proposed by the various national bodies for the qualification and professionalisation of tutors remains extremely variable in terms of content, duration and evaluation criteria. With its internationally recognised experience in the field and the active collaboration between the various entities that support it, DCP_Tusele aims to increase the transparency and harmonisation of tutoring processes. A set of easy-to-use tools and devices accompanies the different stages of the course (see outputs 1 to 4) and ultimately enables each tutor to optimise their personal and socio-educational development through active lifelong learning. Inspired by the philosophy of the European Qualifications Framework and integrating the values of unity and diversity of the European Union, the project focuses on the heritage and diversity of the Spanish language, as well as its teaching beyond the borders of Europe. It focuses on intellectual productions that are transferable not only at the European but also at the American level. At the end of the project these intellectual productions will constitute the material for the planning, reception, and evaluation of the trainees by the tutor. DCP_Tusele is based on three pillars (intersectoral collaboration, transnational interaction, creative use of technology), whose implementation modalities are summarized below: Intersectoral collaboration, guaranteed by: - cooperation between the public and private sectors: the members of the partnership have been working together for a long time on joint reflection on the quality criteria in the courses and the different partners bring together different teaching contexts: regulated and non-regulated; Spanish-speaking countries or abroad; initial or continuing training. In addition, the project counts on the support of 10 prestigious associated entities that guarantee the steering and dissemination of the project's results; - the construction of solid bridges between theory and practice. Most of the project partners participate in training centres and have experience in the transfer of knowledge in practice; - the conceptualization, agreed between the partners and associates, of the model of teaching competence within the framework of a traineeship. Transnational interaction, ensured by: - the creation of transnational and multilingual networks, both within and outside Europe, as Spanish is a world language, spoken by approximately 580 million people (Instituto Cervantes, 2019), and taught as a foreign language to 22 million learners; - the support of an American partner, which enriches the project with its unique expertise in other educational contexts. The creative use of technology, based on: - the proposal of a fully online and open-access training course that facilitates more constructive and effective tutoring, as well as more rigorous and systematic evaluation of the teachers doing their internship; - the autonomous use of modular and flexible digital supports, both theoretical and practical, according to formative itineraries that allow tutors to easily access complementary training for improvement on different supports: e-books, video capsules, evaluation grids.
The resources were developed with the intention of giving language instructors who serve as internship tutors action plans, work manuals, assessment criteria, and current information to aid in their professional growth. Developing a shared conceptualization of teaching competence for internships between training and host centers facilitates bridging the theory-practice gap. This mutual agreement enhances understanding and collaboration, fostering effective teaching in internship contexts. Establishing cross-cultural connections in Spanish language education between Europe and Mexico, a key player with the most native speakers and second-highest limited competence. This broadens the exclusively European focus seen in publications like the CEFR, considering Spanish's global presence and a potential user base exceeding 580 million. Improving the quality of the instruction of Spanish as a foreign language, since the professionalization of the competence of tutors will result in a better teaching performance of the teacher in training and their students/future students.
Training programs for teachers of Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL) generally include an internship period, aimed at acquiring, developing or deepening theoretical and practical knowledge in the field. It is in this context that we have identified the need to professionalize the figure of the internship tutor who accompanies this process. The tutor is the central element around which internship pedagogical activities revolve. They assume their tutoring role more based on their own practice, i.e., their years of experience as a teacher, rather than on specific skills acquired to become an internship tutor. The DCP_Tusele partnership has worked to create a support system for tutors: providing working tools that offer them new opportunities for professional development. The products are reusable in different teaching contexts and focus on four aspects: 1) key terms organized in a glossary (GlosELE); (2) the reception of the teacher at the internship site; (3) the stay at the host center, and finally, (4) the evaluation of internships.