Factors conditioning university teachers' training transference: A study on teachers' transfer of competencies

The aim of this paper is to analyze the main factors facilitating and hindering the transfer of teaching skills in the context of teacher training in Spanish universities. The Questionnaire on Factors Conditioning Teachers' Training Transfer is applied to a sample of 1,026 teachers from 18 universities who enrolled in 81 training activities. The results indicate that the teacher training design and the learning achieved by the participants is a factor that acts as a strong transfer catalyst, especially in long courses where teachers develop all sort of teaching skills in an integrated manner. While teachers do not find resistances to transfer, there are personal and structural limitations in the immediate working context. The main limitation to training transfer is the teacher's personal organization. It is likely that teachers set other priorities before planning the transfer of what has been learnt in the training courses and, therefore, the acquired knowledge and skills have a limited application and impact in the pedagogical practice.