Simulation activities are practical exercises designed to help students develop social and communication skills, among others, in an environment that is as realistic as possible. The aim is to facilitate their transition into the work of world once they have completed their studies. This academic year, the Faculty of Education Sciences has introduced a new simulation activity as part of its Oral Communication course, giving students the opportunity to deal with a range of situations involving children’s families.
Actors Núria Florensa and Oscar Jarque took on the role of the parents, while second-year students on the bachelor’s degrees in Pre-Primary Education and Primary Education at UIC played the teachers at a fictional school. The session was moderated by Dr Marc Grau, lecturer in the Faculty of Education, and Dr Maria Agustina Sanllehí, lecturer on the Master’s Degree in General Health Psychology.
The students prepared for meetings with families, taking on three different roles and working with scenarios in which the children had lost interest in their lessons, had a packed schedule of extracurricular activities or were experiencing bullying at school. The aim of the simulation activity was to improve the students’ communication skills, afford them a more active role in parent-teacher meetings and teach them how to structure a meeting with the child at the centre.
Lecturer Marc Grau highlighted the value of this activity, which the Faculty has used for the first time: “We want to restore teachers to their central role. It’s worrying when the very people who fail to recognise teachers’ social value are the students themselves,” he explained. Psychologist Maria Agustina Sanllehí also emphasised this point: “Facing parents can be very daunting for students. This activity helps students see themselves as experts in education and gives them the tools to manage and lead the meeting,” she pointed out.
Both experts agreed on the importance of teachers preparing for these meetings with families. “It’s important to identify the specific needs of each meeting. You never know when you’re going to have that parent sitting across from you again,” Sanllehí affirmed. “I recommend focusing what you want to say on three key points and using them to guide the conversation, always keeping the child at the centre.”
VINCLES Research Group
Dr Marc Grau coordinates the VINCLES Research Group at UIC, which studies the quality of the relationships in education across three dimensions: family relationships, relationships within educational settings and relationships between families and schools. “In academia, this latter dimension is referred to as the mesosystem, that is, the interactions between two or more environments.” From this perspective, the simulation activities aim to strengthen relationships between families and teachers.
From a research standpoint, Marc Grau also highlighted a growing trend in international studies. “It seems that more meetings with teachers are being requested by families who might not have done so before, and teachers need to know how to handle them. Some studies suggest that certain parents are now questioning the teachers’ authority or their children’s marks, something which was less common in the past. Teachers need to reclaim their social and professional standing.” Along the same lines, Maria Agustina Sanllehí stressed that “we need to inspire families and help them see that their children’s education is a shared responsibility.”
This research focus is also reflected in the bachelor’s degree final projects undertaken by UIC students: “We’ve already supervised final projects that explore how to prepare newly qualified teachers for meetings with families, as this is an aspect that has not always been adequately addressed. We want to follow the example set by the simulation activities carried out in other UIC faculties, which bring so much value,” she concluded.
