Showing papers in "Canadian Journal of Education in 2016"

Decolonizing Solidarity: Dilemmas and Directions for Supporters of Indigenous Struggles

Abstract: Decolonizing Solidarity: Dilemmas and Directions for Supporters of Indigenous Struggles by Clare Land London: Zed Books, 2015, 324 pages ISBN: 978-1-78360-173-8 (paperback) Decolonization, it can be argued, is the most important ethical challenge within Canadian education today. This book by Clare Land is a highly applicable and welcome resource that has been wanting in Canadian settings and decolonization discourse more generally. From the context of Australian Indigenous activism in which Land has been a long-time non-Indigenous supporter, Decolonizing Solidarity covers the relatively unexplored and important territory of interaction between Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people struggling against both (neo)colonial societal structure and their own interpersonal expressions. Here, Land usefully draws together a broad literature from decolonization and critical whiteness studies with personal reflection and interviews of long-time activists, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Land seeks to support non-Indigenous people wishing to work in solidarity with Indigenous people, and to ease the burden of education from Indigenous activists for whom, as Gary Foley of the Gumbaynggirr Nation articulates in his foreword to the book, "some of the most difficult conversations are with people who have insisted they are supporters of the Aboriginal struggle, not opponents" (p. ix). Central to the integrity of her work, Land clearly situates herself as a non-Indigenous supporter and subjective participant-researcher, and includes self-reflection showing personal learning. Her research benefits from personal and trusted relationships with key Aboriginal leaders. For me as a non-Indigenous educator and academic with a focus on unsettling colonialism within myself and the world around me, this book is instructive but also changing; reading it challenged my sense of self and understanding of privilege, moving me to a new place of being. Following from the premise that the state exists within the self--that the personal is political and political is personal--Land challenges non-Indigenous people "to undertake critical self-reflection, to commit to public political action, and to do personal-material work, [that is] to change the shape of our lives" (p. 233). Some particular tasks that Land puts forward throughout the book for non-Indigenous people interested in solidarity include: * Learn the history of struggles of Indigenous people, particularly those of the area in which you have interest to engage (Chapter 2 is offered as example of this history in the context of southeast Australia). * Ask yourself (difficult) questions to develop self-understanding of yourself culturally and in relation to colonization and privilege, and to clarify your motivations to work in support of Aboriginal people. * Recognize that the place where you live and work is Aboriginal land. * Be approachable to challenge (allowing your perceptions and actions to be changed), adopting a stance of active reflection and humility of the learner. * Consider material changes you might make in your life to lessen imbalances that are part of your privilege. Helpful and problematic approaches and actions that non-Indigenous supporters can take are well articulated in Chapter 4 "Collaboration dialogue and friendship," Chapter 5 "Acting politically" (and with self reflection), Chapter 6 "A moral and political framework for non-Indigenous people's solidarity," and Chapter 7 "Reckoning with Complicity. …

International Service Learning: Engaging host communities

Abstract: International Service Learning: Engaging host communities by Marianne A. Larsen New York, New York: Routledge, 2016, 287 pages ISBN: 978-1-138-84131-4 (hardcover) Service learning is a growing field of study and practice in a number of Canadian universities. It involves the concept of combining travel with some sort of community project, usually in a "majority world" nation. The use of the terms "minority world" for Western nations and "majority world" for those nations that are usually called "developing nations" by Western nations is one of the strongest points made in the text to address how language and theory foster and maintain positions of privilege. Service learning has traditionally aimed to develop "minority world" youth's skills and empathy as they "help" a community improve. However, as a number of edited chapters in Larsen's book illustrate, service learning is problematic. We can connect its desire for "service" in the interests of helping those "poor others" with colonial legacies of "white Europeans" going to other nations to help "develop" them. Many of the chapter authors describe a number of shortcomings with service learning projects including building community infrastructures, such as libraries, that the local communities do not want or cannot use, taking jobs away from locals, exposing locals to "privileged white kids" whose attitudes and actions can damage locals' self esteem, and increasing community dependence and beliefs that the West is the right model of development for other nations to follow. Larsen et al. (2016) demonstrate awareness of these shortcomings and thus aim to write the book from the perspectives of those who are the recipients of projects. Most of the chapters present research carried out with local community people in "majority nations" such as Ghana, Uganda, Jamaica, or Nicaragua, or they describe the perspectives of bridging agencies who help to facilitate projects. The concerns raised in this book's chapters can be summed up by chapter author Jessica Arends' comment that, "the data reveals that international service learning interactions occur at a complex nexus of expectations regarding race, gender and privilege, leading to feelings of exploitation, entitlement and stereotyping" (p. 109-110). This book should be required reading for any university administrator, counselor, or individual who engages in service learning. It turns much needed attention on how the receivers of service learning projects perceive them. Even though some of the interviewees may give overly positive answers due to their fear of losing program benefits and money, it is clear that there are number of significant issues with these projects. …

Inclusion Reconceptualized: Pre-Service Teacher Education and Disability Studies in Education

Abstract: In this article, two teacher educators describe and explain how they are reconceptualizing a pre-service teacher education course on inclusion using disability studies in education (DSE) scholarship. The DSE approach better connects the oft-separated field of diversity and inclusion, and builds on the program’s overall focus on equity education. Using a critical reflective self-study approach, these researchers weave together scholarship about inclusive education with their lived classroom experiences in a teacher education program. They conclude that cultivating practical judgement in pre-service teachers is important to inclusive education.

Examining the Nature of Theory–Practice Relationships in Initial Teacher Education: A Canadian Case Study

Abstract: In this case study, the authors examined how theory practice relationships were conceptualized and enacted in a new teacher preparation program. As well, the issues and tensions associated with theory–practice dynamics were explored. More specifically, the authors explored two questions: (a) What is the nature of theory–practice relationships in a new teacher preparation program? (b) What tensions will arise as theory–practice relationships are manifested in this new teacher preparation program? Through the analysis of a number of qualitative data sets, insights are shared about program design, practices, and pedagogy, as well as the perspectives of teacher educators and teacher candidates on the nature of theory–practice relationships in their teacher preparation programs. Implications for teacher educators and teacher preparation are discussed.

Experiential High School Career Education, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation

Abstract: Students’ perceived self-efficacy and motivation in the context of experiential high school career education was examined through an exploratory mixed methods case study of an elective experiential career education class offered in Saskatchewan public schools. Data were generated by having students (N = 14) complete two measures at the start and end of the semester: the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale—Short Form (CDMES-SF) (Taylor & Betz, 1983) and an adapted motivation questionnaire (Kerner, 2011). Classroom assignments, curriculum documents, and interviews with the instructor and two of the students provided further sources of data. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically and quantitative data were analyzed using dependent-t-testing. Significant differences in CDMSE-SF scores were identified and common themes emerged across the qualitative data. Findings are discussed as they relate to social cognitive theory, self-determination theory, and implications for practice and future research.

Digital Narratives as a Means of Shifting Settler-Teacher Horizons toward Reconciliation.

Abstract: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action report (2015), in the section “Education for Reconciliation” (p. 7, #62–63), calls for the integration of Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods into the curriculum and for better preparation of teachers to deliver Indigenous content. Settler-teachers, however, have not been adequately prepared for this mission, nor are they well-prepared to teach Indigenous students. This article discusses a project of dual purpose in support of reconciliation: to give Indigenous students the opportunity to represent their Land-based dogsledding experiences as iMovie digital narratives and to give settler-teacher candidates direct experience for relationship-building in an indigenized context of education. Drawing upon theories of settler-colonialism, decolonization, and reconciliation in education, the article illustrates the imperative of immersing settler-teachers into contexts where Indigenous students self-representing their identities and Indigenous knowledge are at the centre of the curriculum.

Enseigner en milieu francophone minoritaire canadien: synthèse des connaissances sur les défis et leurs implications pour la formation des enseignants

Abstract: Dans cet article, nous presentons les resultats d’une synthese des connaissances visant a cerner les defis lies a l’enseignement en milieu francophone minoritaire. L’analyse des travaux repertories nous a permis d’identifier trois defis majeurs auxquels ce systeme d’education doit faire face a l’heure actuelle. Il s’agit : (1) de la redefinition de la mission de l’ecole francophone en milieu minoritaire a la lumiere de nouvelles realites sociales; (2) du developpement et de la validation, par la recherche, d’interventions pedagogiques favorisant a la fois la construction d’une identite forte et le developpement langagier d’eleves linguistiquement et culturellement tres heterogenes, ainsi que (3) de la mise en place d’une preparation adaptee aux besoins des futurs enseignants. L’analyse fait egalement ressortir les principales thematiques sur lesquelles les recherches futures devraient se concentrer afin d’ameliorer la qualite de l’education en francais, en milieu minoritaire, et ainsi contribuer a l’evolution du bilinguisme canadien. Parmi ces thematiques, celle de la formation des enseignants figure en tete de liste.

Can a Classroom Be a Family? Race, Space, and the Labour of Care in Urban Teaching

Abstract: This article reports on findings from a case study of an eighth-grade teacher in an innercity school in downtown Toronto, Canada. It investigates the teacher’s pedagogical use of the metaphor of “family,” using interview data to underscore the effects produced by such an operating logic in a classroom. Methodologically, the article puts forward a novel analytic strategy to keep in dynamic interplay the relationship between how a teacher conceptualizes her teaching practice and where she locates those ideas. By focusing in-depth on one teacher’s pedagogical relations in the classroom, the article aims to better understand how teachers position the ubiquitous notion of “care” in their practice and how they enact “community” in their classrooms and in the larger schools and neighbourhoods in which they work. In this case study, the concepts and experiences of race and space are considered centrally in the examination of a racialized teacher’s pedagogical practices in a diverse and socio-economically marginalized school. The study has important implications for teacher education, inviting us to more explicitly acknowledge the salience of race in our conceptions of “care” and the investment of time and emotion that is demanded when practising politically conscious caring in teaching.

Les stratégies des accompagnateurs de l’intégration socioprofessionnelle des enseignants formés à l’étranger : le jeito des despachantes

Abstract: Devant l’accroissement d’enseignants formes a l’etranger dans les ecoles quebecoises et au vu des enjeux sociaux etant rattaches a leur integration socioprofessionnelle, les chercheurs se sont interesses a leur experience. Cependant, peu d’attention a ete portee a la contribution des acteurs de la communaute professionnelle et universitaire impliques dans ce processus. Des entretiens individuels ont ete conduits aupres de 14 participants de ces deux communautes, afin de mettre en lumiere comment ils interviennent pour faciliter l’integration de ces enseignants dans leur nouveau milieu de travail. Differentes strategies de mediation culturelle mettant en lumiere le savoir d’experience de ces accompagnateurs ont ete identifiees.

Using Cognitive Coaching to Build School Leadership Capacity: A Case Study in Alberta

Abstract: The impact of Cognitive Coaching included as part of the Leader2Leader (L2L) Leadership Pilot Program for beginning principals in Alberta, Canada, was evaluated in the present study. Fifteen qualified principals (coaches) and 23 new principals completed the L2L Pilot Program that took place over 18 months. Questionnaires for coaches and new principals were used to obtain reactions to the Cognitive Coaching component. The findings suggest that the L2L Leadership Program can help develop a network of reflective, self-reliant school principals. Recommendations for improving the Cognitive Coaching component of the L2L Leadership Program are provided.

Développer le sens du métier pour favoriser le bienêtre en formation initiale à l’enseignement

Abstract: Au Quebec, la complexite du metier conduit certains enseignants a la detresse psychologique ou au decrochage professionnel. Malgre ce constat, cette recherche demontre que des enseignants perseverent et eprouvent du bien-etre dans la profession. En s’appuyant sur le champ de la psychologie positive, ce texte presente les resultats d’une recherche qualitative effectuee aupres d’enseignants d’experience a l’aide d’entrevues semi-dirigees. Ils mettent en evidence que le sens du metier, l’element central du bienetre en enseignement, est alimente par cinq forces de caractere predominantes. Puis, une breve reflexion sera amorcee sur l’importance de developper ces forces de caractere chez les etudiants lors de la formation initiale pour mieux les preparer a leur insertion professionnelle.

Smooth Sailing or Stormy Seas? Atlantic Canadian Physical Educators on the State and Future of Physical Education.

Abstract: This article summarizes results from a recently completed study that focused upon the current state and possible future of physical education within Canada’s four Atlantic provinces. Data from both large-scale surveys and eight follow-up focus group interviews are shared as they relate to the state and future of physical education, possible reforms in physical education, and two elements of NASPE’s PE2020 framework (physical education teacher education [PETE], curriculum). Results suggest physical educators within Atlantic Canada are largely satisfied with the state of physical education, with few (external) negative observations. Moreover, there is little-to-no perceived need for internal reform within the discipline. Physical educators also provided insightful information related to their beliefs and practices regarding PETE and curriculum. Results might be of particular interest to those similarly engaged in “futures” inquiry within physical education. More specifically, this research attends to the call for physical educator-informed reform efforts.

Religious Diversity and Inclusion: Policy and Accommodation Practices in British Columbia’s Secular School System

Abstract: The religious diversity of students and staff within a secular school system may sometimes create tensions. To better understand the possible issues generated by and practical accommodations made with respect to these tensions, interviews were conducted at the district level with key administrators in metropolitan school districts in British Columbia. These interviews aimed to document existing policy related to religious diversity in schools, and understand how school districts address issues related to religious values or beliefs, which may conflict with existing educational values, especially as they relate to curriculum.

Revisiting the Challenges Linked to Parenting and Home–School Relationships at the High School Level

Abstract: The article revisits data from a 2005 study on the parental involvement process. The purpose of this study was to analyze parents’ written statements regarding two processes: parenting and home–school relationships associated with school success at the high school level. The objectives are mainly to describe parents’ understanding of their role in adolescent education and schooling, to document their perception of adolescents’ and teachers’ invitations to become involved, and to identify contradictions within their relationships with adolescents and teachers. Using the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), we analyzed qualitative data obtained from 409 parents’ statements. Main findings indicate contradictions in the rules and division of labour poles of the activity systems. Divergent points of view were noted between parents and adolescents and between parents and school/teachers in regard to their responsibilities. The same observations were made with respect to home–school relationships. Other contradictions were also identified when the parents addressed the recurrent tensions to improve either their relationships with their adolescents or with the teachers. As a promising avenue for intervention and developmental research, the authors suggest to apply the Change Laboratory (CL) methodology to give adolescents a better voice and the ability to act as mediators in both activity systems.

Validation d'un modèle motivationnel des aspirations professionnelles

Abstract: Cette etude evalue un modele motivationnel des aspirations professionnelles et verifie sa validite selon le sexe des etudiants. Un total de 582 cegepiens (63 % de sexe feminin) ont rempli un questionnaire evaluant chacune des variables du modele. Cinq mois plus tard, les participants ont rempli une echelle d’aspirations professionnelles. Les resultats indiquent, entre autres, que les notes et la perception d’appartenance au cegep predisent positivement les perceptions de competence des etudiants. En retour, ces perceptions de competence sont associees a la motivation autodeterminee qui, a son tour, predit positivement les aspirations professionnelles. Ces resultats se sont averes les memes pour les filles et les garcons.

From Cultural Deprivation to Individual Deficits: A Genealogy of Deficiency in Inuit Adult Education

Abstract: Adult education programs are often grounded in problematic assumptions about learners’ inadequacies. The purpose of this article is to critique such assumptions through presenting a history of the manner in which representatives of Canadian governments conceptualized the education of Inuit adults from the 1940s through the 1980s. Using genealogical methods and archival data, I find three stages in the evolution of official discourses about Inuit adult education: exclusion, cultural deprivation, and individualization. This article contributes to the history of Inuit education, and to the critique of deficiency discourses as more broadly deployed in the education of adults from marginalized backgrounds.

Le stress, les stratégies d’adaptation et l’épuisement professionnel chez les stagiaires francophones en enseignement primaire et secondaire

Abstract: Cette recherche examine le stress, les strategies d’adaptation et l’epuisement professionnel chez 245 stagiaires francophones en enseignement primaire et secondaire a l’Universite d’Ottawa. Deux objectifs ont ete cibles : (1) cerner les caracteristiques psychometriques de trois tests traduits en francais, a savoir le « Teacher Stress Inventory » (TSI), le « Brief COPE » et le « Maslach Burnout Inventory » (MBI), et (2) determiner dans quelle mesure les stagiaires sont stresses et epuises, quelles en sont les principales sources et quelles sont les strategies d’adaptation les plus utilisees selon le sexe, l’experience professionnelle et le niveau d’enseignement (primaire/secondaire). Une premiere modelisation par equations structurales (MES) confirme la structure du TSI. Les scores des repondants suggerent que les stagiaires ne sont pas stresses outre mesure, donc qu’ils sont encore moins a risque d’epuisement professionnel. Une seconde MES integre les mesures effectuees par le MBI et revele que des strategies d’adaptation agissent d’une facon mediatrice dans la relation entre le stress et l’epuisement professionnel.

Examining Rhetorics of Play in Curricula in Five Provinces: Is Play at Risk in Canadian Kindergartens?

Abstract: In this article, school division and Ministry of Education–based early childhood consultants and university researchers respond to the question of whether play is at risk in kindergartens in five Canadian provinces by analyzing current and previous kindergarten curricula using Sutton-Smith’s framework of rhetorics of play. We find that play is integral to kindergarten curricula in Saskatchewan and Ontario, but only implicitly mentioned in the Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba curricula where support documents provide more support for play. The rhetoric of play as progress is the dominant discourse of current kindergarten curricula.

Are the Kids All Right? The Impact of School Climate among Students with LGBT Parents

Abstract: Using a large-scale survey of over 3,000 Canadian students, this study empirically investigates the correlation of having a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) parent with the likelihood of skipping school due to feeling unsafe. A multivariate logistic regression procedure with interaction terms was used. Results show that students who have an LGBT parent, and who report feeling unsafe at school due to their family type or their own real/perceived gender and/or sexual identity, were almost four times more likely to report skipping school than cisgender-heterosexual (CH) students with non-LGBT parents who feel safe at school.

Evolving Practices: Admissions Policies in Ontario Teacher Education Programs

Abstract: This study investigated the admissions practices of Ontario’s teacher education programs during the 2014–2015 and 2015–2016 academic years. Data were gathered from 15 institutions via online resources and collaborative conversations with stakeholders at each institution. The findings identify that academic averages are used by every Ontario university as a measure of cognitive skills, while non-cognitive written statements and references are used by a majority of institutions. A majority of programs also articulate explicit equity admissions policies. These findings represent the first study of Ontario admissions in the wake of Regulation 283/13, and the first Ontario admissions study to augment online data with province-wide stakeholder input. This research offers a thorough, current overview of admissions practices that may be used to inform policymaking in Ontario teacher education, and serve as a helpful resource to other ITE programs outside of Ontario.

Portrayals of Bullying in Young Adult Literature: Considerations for Schools.

Abstract: In this article, the authors examine how bullying is portrayed in three recent young adult novels, focusing specifically on whether the information about bullying is accurate, biased, or represents old myths in comparison to current research. The authors conduct a systematic analysis of the following four themes: (1) What is bullying? (2) Who are the bullies? (3) Who are the victims? (4) Who are the bystanders and what role do they play? They conclude by arguing for the inclusion of young adult fiction that deals with sensitive issues as a way to promote awareness, empathy, and social change to empower youth in school settings.

Unfreezing Disney’s Frozen through playful and intentional co-authoring/co-playing

Abstract: Often children’s opportunities to play are constrained by particular interpretations of play that instrumentalize its value in the service of adult-defined, future-oriented goals for children. As an alternative, we draw upon specific theoretical insights of play and playfulness, to closely examine the power of the present and past in childhood and adulthood, through ongoing play episodes created and re-created by co-playing, co-authoring adults and children. This particular playing collective takes up common popular cultural scripts embedded in the film Frozen , and through intertextual and multimodal adventuring, indoors and out, reveal emergent and playful uncertainties and potentialities that can occur when children and adults are committed to play as “a thing by itself” (Huizinga, 1950, p. 45).

The Journey Between There and Here: Stories of a Faculty Writing Group

Abstract: Reflecting, sharing, and producing knowledge about the process of writing and collaboration in a writing group is the focus of this qualitative project, in which we explore a complex weaving of knowledge, subjectivity, and representation. In this group are eight women faculty, all of whom are individually working on writing projects in their own areas of expertise. Using a method of writing as inquiry, each person was asked to keep a reflective journal; an autoethnographic account of their experiences of writing during a three-month period. The group met weekly and each individual shared their reflections and writing experiences. In this project, our intention is to decentre notions of the alienated, isolated academic by writing and constructing knowledge as a collective. Using the metaphor of here and there, we ask how can a relational culture grow out of writing? How can competitive, hidden barriers be broken down and replaced by open, encouraging spaces?

Written as I Remember It: Teachings (ʔəms taʔaw) from the life of a Sliammon elder

Abstract: Written as I Remember It: Teachings (?ems ta?aw) from the life of a Sliammon elder Elsie Paul, in collaboration with Paige Raibmon and Harmony Johnson Vancouver, British Columbia: UBC Press, 2015, 488 pages ISBN: 978-0-7748-2711-9 (paperback) "So That S How Important the Roots Were to our People " (p. 155) The epigraph that Sliammon elder Elsie Paul speaks in her book Written as I Remember It dovetails with First Nations' understanding of the lifelong learning journey. Sources and domains of knowledge ground a learner and are understood as roots that sustain a learner, represented in the stylized graphic of a tree (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007). Paul identifies these sources and domains of knowledge in her teachings. One of the book's collaborators, Paige Raibmon, refers to these as Paul's "categories of identity" (p. 40), and Raibmon, Paul, and Paul's granddaughter, Harmony Johnson, use the stories to provide a nuanced interpretation of these categories--they are roots, nests where knowledge resides, grows, and changes. The categories are repurposed as "teachings on ideas, values, and intentions" (p. 42). Elders pass them on to listeners like Raibmon and Johnson with the intention that they live according to the messages in them. I conceive of the stories in Written as I Remember It as sources and domains of knowledge because Raibmon says "what is enduring about tradition or culture is not necessarily located in the physical practices ... or in the texts and artifacts" (p. 42) where standard education systems teach us to find knowledge. For me as an educator, the book is an opportunity to analyze what I learn from each of Paul's sources and domains of knowledge and take them with me on my lifelong learning journey because the authors want us "to take in not only the content of her [Paul's] words but the method and intention" (p. 5). Ancestors' teachings help "you ... get your strength, your power to be who you are" (p. 68). After Raibmon provides context and locates the book in literature on British Columbia history, Indigenous education, and anthropological investigations, Paul proceeds to set up the sources and domains of knowledge in which her stories nest. Her stories cover self-care, work, respect, the land and the place, and family. Any gaps readers notice may serve as touchstones to further research with Paul and other knowledgeable Sliammon. We see how the stories have an impact on the spiritual and cultural, social, economic, and political spheres (First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model, 2007) of Paul's life. Paul's motivation for her work is her family, as she argues that "it's very important to pass on to my children, to my grandchildren ... the strong beliefs that my grandparents had, that there is a spiritual world ... [and] that is what grounds us" (p. 389). Paul's lessons shape the methods of Indigenous learning that Raibmon asks us to contemplate as we read. Paul says "you are taught by your Elders how to take care of yourself' (pp. 68-69). Elders share with you "the true history" of the land that "is never talked about" (p. 79). In these stories, we see revised histories of contemporary B.C. places from the families who lived in them. Powell River, Cape Mudge, Brem River, Theodosia, Okeover Inlet, Grace Harbour, Bella Bella, Bute Inlet, Egmont, and Rivers Inlet are communities that come up often in her stories. On the land, "it's really important to just share your history ... how you grew up ... what things were like in my grandmother's time, and the stories about how things were in my great-grandparents' time" (pp. …

The Nature of Principals’ Work and Leadership in French as a Second Language Learning in Ontario Schools

Abstract: French as a second language (FSL) education is mandatory in Ontario from Grades 4 to 9. The majority of students enrol in Core French (CF), which has an obligatory status in policy but is marginalized in practice. Our study aimed to illuminate the dynamics behind this paradox, drawing from research on the nature of principals’ work and instructional leadership. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Ontario principals and CF teachers in eight schools. Thematic triangulation revealed principals working to contain problems typically associated with CF by positioning teachers as the first line of defense and viewing student engagement as success. Reminiscent of 1980s research, findings suggest little progress has been made in resolving this CF paradox.

La qualité des interactions observées en classe et les pratiques déclarées par les enseignantes à l’éducation préscolaire

Abstract: Cette recherche a permis de mettre en parallele des donnees observees et declarees au sujet de la qualite des interactions enseignante-enfant a l’education prescolaire. Pour ce faire, l’outil Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) a ete utilise; celui-ci est compose de trois domaines : le soutien emotionnel, l’organisation de la classe et le soutien a l’apprentissage. L’echantillon a l’etude est compose de 12 classes d’education prescolaire; des observations ont d’abord ete menees dans chacune des classes afin d’examiner la qualite des interactions a la maternelle 5 ans. Des entrevues semi-dirigees ont ensuite permis de relever les pratiques declarees par les enseignantes au sujet des trois domaines qui composent l’outil d’observation. Les donnees issues de l’observation indiquent que le domaine « organisation de la classe » presente le niveau de qualite le plus eleve, en plus d’etre le plus revele par les enseignantes lors de l’entrevue. De plus, les resultats montrent un score de qualite moyen-faible lie au domaine du soutien a l’apprentissage dans les pratiques observees, ce domaine est d’ailleurs rarement evoque par les enseignantes lors des entrevues. Ces resultats amenent a discuter du developpement professionnel afin de favoriser la qualite des interactions en classe de maternelle.

Devenir enseignant en formation professionnelle au Québec : la collaboration entre les acteurs favorise-t-elle la persévérance ?

Abstract: Au Quebec, le modele de formation des enseignants de la formation professionnelle au secondaire est particulier. Les enseignants sont generalement recrutes dans les milieux de pratique, apres quoi ils entreprennent des etudes universitaires en concomitance a leurs debuts en enseignement. Dans ces milieux, plusieurs acteurs se greffent a leur quotidien : leurs collegues enseignants, la direction et les intervenants universitaires sont autant de personnes avec qui la collaboration est necessaire. Sur la base d’une enquete menee aupres de 1,325 personnes, cet article explore de maniere descriptive les motifs de perseverance de ces nouveaux enseignants, dans la carriere enseignante comme dans leurs etudes universitaires. Ces resultats revelent que la conciliation travail / etudes / famille constitue un defi de tous les instants pour les acteurs impliques dans cette transition.

Assessment for Reading Instruction, 3rd edition

Abstract: Assessment for Reading Instruction, 3rd edition by Michael C. McKenna & Katherine A. Dougherty Stahl New York, NY/USA: The Guilford Press, 2015, 324 pages ISBN: 978-1-4625-2104-3 (paperback) As increasing emphasis is placed on the importance of literacy skills, many classroom teachers feel overwhelmed or left behind. Classrooms that exceed student capacity, readers who find themselves well below grade level standards, and government mandates that tie student success to teacher success have placed a tremendous amount of pressure on classroom teachers. With a wide variety of readers and reading levels in one classroom, teachers are often spread too thin and find themselves in need of practical information and tools that will help them advance their students' reading levels. Michael C. McKenna and Katherine A. Dougherty Stahl have created a practical and comprehensive text that covers reading assessment and that gives teachers a wealth of useful knowledge that can be applied directly to their classroom experience. It is clear, concise, and offers real-world examples that will prove invaluable to teachers. The third edition of Assessment for Reading Instruction obviously builds upon the previous two, but within the last six years, several topics have become more prominent in the field of literacy education. Among the most important is the use of response to intervention (RTI) as it relates to literacy education. McKenna and Stahl have written a companion book entitled Reading Assessment in an RTI Framework that describes how key assessments fit into the response to intervention (RTI) model (McKenna & Stahl, 2013). This text is meant to work hand in hand with Assessment for Reading Instruction. The ever-evolving national focus on Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in the United States is another reason the authors included vital information to their Assessment for Reading Instruction text. With many regions adopting the CCSS or a similar version of it, the realization that vast numbers of students are below grade level readers has flustered educators. There is no one chapter dedicated to Common Core within this text. However, there are CCSS connections within many of the tips, skill sets, and assessments included. Finally, this text includes a chapter that focuses exclusively on vocabulary, its importance, how it can be assessed, and the issues that cause it to be problematic. The text is divided into eleven chapters. It begins with a basic introduction of reading assessment in which multiple reading models are detailed. …