University of Alicante   AN EXPERIENCE OF INTEGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF VALUES OF EQUALITY AND EQUITY FROM A GENDER PERSPECTIVE IN THE INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING Gladys Merma Molina Gladys.merma@ua.es Diego Gavilán Martín Diego.gavilan@ua.es University of Alicante Spain

INTRODUCCIÓN — Equal opportunity should not be understood only as an ethical imperative, but as a necessity, as a facing tool increasing competitiveness. Gender equality fosters academic excellence and universities should promote it through their policies. — Law 3/2007 of 22 March (Spain), on the effective equality of women and men, establishes the need to include in higher education equal opportunities contents and also refers to the teachers training, as mandates the integration of principles of equality in courses and programs for initial and ongoing training. Following this guidance, the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation collects, objectives, in its guidance to support the development of the memory of the new curricula and postgraduate these measures when it states that general competencies should be defined taking into account the fundamental rights of equal opportunities between men and women, the principles of equal opportunities and universal accessibility for people with disabilities and the values of a culture of peace and democratic values.

1. INTRODUCCIÓN — We think the approach to equality would necessarily be considered in the design of the curriculum and, gender specific subjects should be implemented and studied, without exception, by students of different degrees and especially by Master degree students. If we want schools to be agents of socialization where non-sexist and democratic values are transmitted and wich are key areas for gender equality is vital to work from initial teacher training. — Is important that the university promotes institutional, curricular and educational changes; ie significant and global changes that create equality and inclusion academic culture (Carrell, Page, & West, 2009). — In order to contribute to the equality and equity advancement, the objective of this experiment was to include equal opportunities mainstreaming in the teaching of Theory and History of Education course at the University of Alicante Faculty of Education, with students majoring attending the third year of the Early Childhood Education Master Degree.

2. METHOD — The method used in this study is empirical. Was applied a questionnarie to 115 students from the Early Childhood Education at the beginning of the academic year 2013-2014. Their own narratives allowed us to know their perceptions of equal opportunities from the perspective of gender. — They were asked what they meant by gender equality, if a subject in the Faculty, had addressed the issue of gender equality, if they thought that men performed better than women, or viceversa, any profession and whether they lived a situation of gender discrimination within or outside the university. — The strategy of virtual campus "Debate" where a question was raised for each topic developed in the subject was used based on the results.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION — The results show that students generally have a coherent view on the implications of gender equality. Therefore, from the information collected in the survey and based on the analysis of the various categories, we can say that there is an awareness on the part of students and teachers towards equality of opportunity and that the issue has been addressed, so surface and point in different subjects of the race. — We have put forward concrete proposals for the inclusion of equality in each of the course topics, through the strategy of virtual campus "Debate" activities. We were surprised that the participation of the students was majority (95%), although no activity punctuated and so did students know at the beginning of the academic year. — Regarding the perception of students on gender equality, we can say students generally have a coherent view on the implications of equality

PROPOSAL FOR DEVELOPMENT OF GENDER EQUALITY AS A CROSS THROUGH THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY CAMPUS — The experience has consisted in raising a particular activity for inclusion of equality in each of the topics of the course, through the strategy of virtual campus "Debate", taking into account the following general competences and specific previously established in the course. — The contents of the subject of Theory and History of Education in which this strategy was applied were: ITEM 1: The school and diachronic process of institutionalization. ITEM 2: Culture, values, people and education. Socialization, enculturation and education. Postmodernism, development, democracy, globalization, migration and education. ITEM 3: The learner. Human educability and purpose of education. Notion of education. Human subjectivity. ITEM 4: The teaching profession. Metaphorical models of teacher: gardener, doctor, mechanic and initiator. Teaching and styles relating to the maintenance of an optimal school climate. ITEM 5: Theory and theories of education. Science and education. ITEM 6: school Coexistence: variables, factors and ways to achieve a positive climate in education.

Figure 1. Student responses to the question equality of opportunity

4. PROPOSAL FOR DEVELOPMENT OF GENDER EQUALITY AS A CROSS THROUGH THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY CAMPUS — Once the deadline for completing the answers, in class, in person, the students and the teacher discussed, pondered and commented, in a group, the opinions raised in the debate, with the aim of strengthening the arguments and reformulate the question referred. — We were surprised with the majority students participation, although no activity punctuated and thus made ​​them know at the beginning of the academic year. This experience has helped us to understand that any issue of Theory and History of Education course can be addressed from a gender perspective. — Added value of this experience is that students deepened their knowledge in the subject contents.