Education has to emphasize the characteristics which define Western democratic societies. In addition, it has to ensure the active and participative inclusion of each person in social life, where respect for human rights prevails over the person’s preferred ideology. Promoting these values in citizens not only guarantees the stability of the state, but also its constant progression and improvement. Beginning at the elementary level, the promotion of students’ critical spirit is recognized as a fundamental objectives. However, the structures which shape Western education in the 21st century do not allow for the development of completely autonomous thinking and critical thinking in students. In this article, we analyze the processes which comprise an education for obedience. Although obedience does not respond to conscious cognitive processes, it is present in the structural rigidity of education through the organization of the classroom. Our explanation is based on the Theory of Social Conformity, which will be presented as the antithesis of a person’s individual freedom. Moreover, we will see how contaminated cognitive vicarious elements are promoted. Although they are endemic to people, they do not allow students to develop a critical spirit or to be educated for freedom.

In the last two years, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on schools and its consequences for the training of new teachers have been the subject of numerous studies. The pandemic has led to a change in schools and their functioning, as trainee teachers have had to be introduced to a new environment for which university training proved to be insufficient. The pandemic poses shared challenges in which future teachers must be present. The objective of this study is to assess the perception of students enrolled in Early Childhood Education courses at the University of Extremadura (Spain) regarding the impact relationships between the subjects and agents of the educational communities. In order to achieve this goal, we present a qualitative study with a phenomenological design. The results of this research show perceptions in line with what the scientific literature shows: a profound change in the relationships between the different agents. Communication increased, but pedagogical issues were displaced by concerns about the health emergency. This study concludes with the need to broaden the knowledge of future teachers about the administrative functioning of and their relationship with the school, as well as about new resources to address new challenges.

COVID-19 has caused many difficulties worldwide, education being one of the most affected areas. This research aims to disseminate the research trends about education in the context of COVID-19 in Spain. Through a systematic review, all research works about this topic in the Spanish context, that were published between 2020–2022 in national and international high-impact journals, have been analysed. After analysing 242 articles, the results show: (a) the keywords that were used most frequently: “learning” (93); “teaching” (53); “higher education” (43); “pandemic” (30); “competence” (29); and “ICT” (22); (b) research trends, which can be categorised as the following topics, among others: “ICT and Digitalisation”; “Teaching, Learning, and Innovative methodologies”; “Educational Policies”; “Sustainability”; “Acquisition and Development of Skills and Competences”; “Health and Welfare”; (c) that the most popular topic in educational research in Spain was “Teaching, Learning, and Innovative Methodologies” (19.30%), followed by “ICT and Digitalisation” (18.04%), whereas articles about educational policies were a minority (2.85%); (d) that in Spanish educational research, articles about formal education have been the most popular (86.36%), followed by articles about non-formal education (7.02%) and articles about informal education (6.62%). Consequently, the scientific community has highlighted the impact of the pandemic on education, especially in relation to “Teaching, Learning, and Innovative Methodologies”.

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