Multigrade classrooms represent a widely extended educational modality in rural contexts and territories with low demographic density. This organizational model, in which a single teacher serves students from different levels in the same space, poses particular challenges but also significant pedagogical opportunities. In this systemic literature review, a total of 40 international studies were analyzed according to the PRISMA guidelines, published between 2019 and 2024 in databases such as Scopus and ERIC. The objective of this analysis is to identify the main organizational and methodological approaches, as well as the strengths and weaknesses, associated with teaching in multigrade contexts. This systematic review has been prospectively registered in the Open Science Framework (OSF) under registration number: 64rsu. A qualitative thematic analysis was employed to organize the results into five categories: organizational models, pedagogical practices, teacher training, impact on learning, and school-community links. The findings underscore the efficacy of this model in promoting educational inclusion, cooperative learning, and curricular contextualization. Nevertheless, they also underscore the necessity for specific teacher training and support policies. This review offers a comparative and critical perspective that has the potential to inform the development of more effective pedagogical and training strategies in a range of educational settings.

The purpose of this work is to find out the students’ perception of the level of development of competences in the area of Social Sciences, Geography, and History. It has been developed taking into account what has been learned in the area, the level of difficulty for its acquisition, the assessment tools, and the transfer to a real situation. The development of a scale—original and unprecedented—called Evaluation of the Perception of Competences from the Social Sciences (EPECOSICO) has allowed, through a descriptive and quantitative study of validation of the instrument with an intentional sampling, to know the opinion of more than 1400 students of 4th year of secondary education (Spain). The instrument used presents good psychometric attributes, emphasizing the balanced characterization, considering that the number of students is similar (51%, 49%), the confidentiality and the validity. Finally, a KMO higher than 0.9 indicates high reliability in the consistency of the instrument used.

This work presents the results of research whose main objective was to analyze the sources present in Geography and History textbooks used in Spain and Italy in secondary education, as well as how they were designed for use by the teaching staff of this subject. This research was carried out for the benefit of teachers and for the improvement of the teaching-learning process. The sample was configured on the basis of a rigorous analysis of textbooks belonging to relevant publishers in Spain and Italy, whose selection was made using a quantitative and descriptive research method based on the interpretative paradigm, with the help of an SPSS statistical program. As for the main results obtained, the data indicated that the tasks requested from students (based on the use or analysis of sources) are of a low cognitive level, which makes it difficult to learn critical and reflective historical thinking. Finally, it was concluded that for students to strengthen the development and acquisition of critical thinking, the use of textbooks must be integrated with other, more active resources and more participatory teaching strategies, putting both competency-based teaching and its assessment in quarantine.

The aim of this work is to find out the perception that students in 4th year compulsory secondary education have of the teaching of key competences, as well as the possibility these have of being transferred to a real, everyday situation, according to what they have learned in the subject of Geography and History. For this, an intentional sample was configured in which more than 1400 subjects from 4th year of secondary education (in Spain) have participated, with a level of significance of 0.05 using a scale—original and unpublished—called (EPECOCISO—Evaluation of the Perception of Social Science Competences). It is a quantitative descriptive study in which—through an exploratory factorial analysis—factors 1, 2, and 3 have been selected for the realization of a descriptive study. Subsequently, correlation between factors has been established through the Pearson test and between the different variables that make up each one of them with the socio-demographic variables (distinguishing between ordinal and nominal variables), through the chi-square independence test and Cramer’s V test (nominal) and the linearity test and Goodman’s and Kruskal’s Gamma test (ordinal). Finally, it can be concluded that a methodology based and organized around the development of critical thinking facilitates the acquisition of contents and competences, as well as allowing students to detect the possibility of transferring them and putting them into practice in a real situation that can be presented.

The aim of this study is to find out the relevance of the competences worked on in the area of social science, specifically in the subjects of geography and history, through the perceptions of pupils in the 4th year of compulsory secondary education (ESO). In order to carry out the survey, a purposive sampling was carried out in which more than 1400 4th year ESO students (in Spain) participated. In addition, using a Likert-type scale of our own creation called Evaluation of the Perception of Social Science Competences (EPECOCISO) and following a design of quantitative methodology, an exploratory factor analysis was carried out with the analysis software SPSS through the descriptive process, which allowed us to select the three factors that make up the study. Subsequently, correlations were established between factors through Pearson’s test, and between the different variables that make up each one of them with the socio-demographic variables (distinguishing between ordinal and nominal variables) through the chi-square test of independence and Cramer’s V test (nominal), as well as the linearity test, Goodman’s gamma test, and the Kruskal (ordinal) test. Finally, one of the most important conclusions of this study is that the difficulties encountered by students in the acquisition of competences is conditioned by the development of the assessment processes that are carried out.

Este artículo muestra los resultados de una investigación cuyo objetivo fue evaluar el empleo de fuentes en los manuales de Historia de 1. º de bachillerato. Para ello se han analizado cinco editoriales que se encuentran entre las más vendidas en España. Se han seleccionado los temas relacionados con la Guerra Fría, por tratarse de un conflicto internacional que puede estudiarse a través de fuentes de diversa naturaleza. Los resultados son similares a otros países europeos, como Francia, y evidencian que las fuentes se usan de forma equilibrada para ilustrar contenidos y para un fin didáctico. Sin embargo, en las actividades que incorporan fuentes, las demandas cognitivas solicitadas al alumnado son muy básicas por lo que se dificulta que este adquiera unas competencias históricas.