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This article was downloaded by: [University of Sherbrooke]On: 26 January 2015, At: 18:58Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
European Journal of Teacher EducationPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cete20
The impact of pre‐service field trainingsessions on the probability of futureteachers using ICT in schoolFrançois Larose a , Vincent Grenon a , Marie‐Pier Morin a &
Abdelkrim Hasni aa Université de Sherbrooke , CanadaPublished online: 09 Jul 2009.
To cite this article: François Larose , Vincent Grenon , Marie‐Pier Morin & Abdelkrim Hasni (2009)The impact of pre‐service field training sessions on the probability of future teachers using ICT inschool, European Journal of Teacher Education, 32:3, 289-303, DOI: 10.1080/02619760903006144
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European Journal of Teacher EducationVol. 32, No. 3, August 2009, 289–303
ISSN 0261-9768 print/ISSN 1469-5928 online© 2009 Association for Teacher Education in EuropeDOI: 10.1080/02619760903006144http://www.informaworld.com
The impact of pre-service field training sessions on the probability of future teachers using ICT in school
François Larose*, Vincent Grenon, Marie-Pier Morin and Abdelkrim Hasni
Université de Sherbrooke, CanadaTaylor and FrancisCETE_A_400786.sgm10.1080/02619760903006144European Journal of Teacher Education0261-9768 (print)/1469-5928 (online)Original Article2009Taylor & [email protected]
Most industrialised countries have adopted training strategies for pre-serviceteachers that place experienced teacher guidance centre stage, particularly withinthe context of regular pre-service field training sessions. In this article, afteranalysing the data taken from a longitudinal survey on the computer skills andattitudes of students toward the integration of ICT in teaching in primary andsecondary school teacher education programmes at the University of Sherbrooke,the authors underline the potential contradictory effects between the classroomteaching observed during practicum and the effort to support the use of computertechnology in school during university training. They conclude by underlining theimportance of supporting the professional development of practising teachersregarding the use of ICT, with the aim of changing practices observed by studentsin training and optimising the probability of increasing the use of thesetechnologies in their future role as teachers.
Keywords: ICT; computer literacy; practicum; pre-service teacher education;modelling; attitudes
Introduction
In 1994, the first of many eventual reforms of pre-service teacher educationprogrammes made it necessary for student teachers to attain at least 700 hours ofpracticum during their four years of pre-service education in order to obtain theirteaching certificate. In 2001, a second programme of reform required students tosucceed in at least one compulsory course dealing with the use of computer technol-ogy in school. In both cases, the programme reappraisal turned these into minimalconditions without which the Bachelor diploma obtained at graduation would not berecognised by the Ministry of Education and would consequently not give access tothe teaching profession.
Within the framework of research that was financially supported by the SocialSciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada,1 we collected longitudinaldata among groups of students in programmes leading to a profession in theFaculty of Education at the University of Sherbrooke, from 1999 to 2004. In thisarticle, we present the results regarding the evolution of students’ entry profilesconcerning both computer literacy and their attitudes toward the pedagogical use ofICT. We place particular emphasis on the effect of pre-service field trainingsessions on the eventual evolution of the probability that our subjects will more orless systematically use computer technology in school during their occupationalintegration.
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Evolution of ICT integration practices in teaching: assessment
Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, we have been noting some stagnationin the ICT integration profile in teaching practices, without considering governmentalefforts made by a majority of industrialised countries at the level of infrastructures andequipment available in schools. In fact, many teachers integrate ICT both in theirplanning and how they carry out their daily teaching routine, as much in Quebec aselsewhere in Europe and North America. Numerous survey results confirm this,whether they were administered in Canada (Larose, Grenon and Palm 2004; Planteand Beattie 2004), in Europe or in the USA (Prior and Hall 2004; British EducationalCommunications and Technology Agency 2005; European Commission 2006).However, this integration remains relatively marginal and places ICT in teaching atthe same level as school material which is used only occasionally by the teacher or thepupil. Despite teachers’ generally positive stand on the presence and use of ICT in theclassroom, an analysis of their discourse reveals a strong presence among the teachingstaff of a social representation of the advantages and obstacles of using ICT.Regarding this, there is only a marginal variation according to the school level (Laroseet al. 2005).
In accordance with the theory of social representations, the few studies withnumerically significant samples of teachers reveal a certain number of commonfeatures. On the one hand, teachers tend to recognise the benefit of having ICT inschool in relation to the increase and the diversification of available informationresources for both teachers and students. In this way, there is recognition of the poten-tial or actual contribution of resources to which ICT enables an easier access for thedevelopment of more ‘authentic’ teaching practices. The advantage of using theseresources to support student motivation in school also represents a stable componentto this discourse. On the other hand, the limits of using this type of school material areequally justified along two axes.
First, teachers deplore the lack of technical support given in classrooms or in labo-ratories. Second, they underline the negative impact of problems associated with thelimitations of equipment on the day-to-day management of teaching. Hence, we find,as much in the analysis of survey data as in the analysis of data recovered fromresearch based on interviews, that there is a common standard discourse which isgenerally positive regarding technology, as well as a discourse that seeks to justify thelimits and infrequent use of ICT (Hennessy, Ruthven and Brindley 2005; Larose et al.2005; Madden et al. 2005).
Future teachers: agents of change or factors of reproduction of pedagogical practices?
In Canada as elsewhere in the world, we counted on the effect of occupational inte-gration of young teachers trained in the pedagogical use of ICT on the evolution ofprofiles and the frequency of day-to-day use in the classroom of computer technologyin school (Karsenti et al. 2002; Oliver 2002; Russel et al. 2003). Nevertheless, thenational data do not enable us to identify any distinction between new teachers andexperienced teachers (Larose et al. 2004) and the international scientific documentationoffers only a contradicting profile (Cuckle and Clarke 2002). This is not surprisinggiven the job insecurity facing new teachers as they begin their careers, as well as theiremphasis on the dimensions associated with building actual routines for instructional
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or classroom management (Tardif and Lessard 1999; Tardif et al. 2001). Of course,these are not optimal factors for supporting the emergence of ‘innovative conducts’.
Moreover, one of the fundamental reasons for the importance given to pre-servicefield training sessions is the strength of the modelling effect that is created. The asso-ciate teacher, the professional in whose classroom the student teacher will be able toobserve an expert demonstration and transfer what was learned at university to a ‘real’context, is by definition a credible participant in pre-service education. The associateteacher is a specialist whose expertise is doubly certified. On the one hand, it is recog-nised by the field of practice, since he or she is a regular teacher within the schoolsystem. On the other hand, this expertise is certified by the university that agrees toentrust a student teacher to his or her critical guidance. A basic principle of modelling,according to social learning theory, is that the efficiency of learning a behaviour byobserving a third party is dependent on the model’s credibility and the efficiency ofhis or her performance in the student’s eyes (Miller and Dollard 1941; Bandura 1977).The effect of the credibility given to the expert as a model, at least from what has beenobserved among students in pre-service teacher education in Quebec, is an increasingrelativisation of teaching to which students are exposed at university, in comparisonto the practices that these teachings uphold (Larose et al. 2000).
If it is true that one of the essential factors in the process of building future teach-ers’ professional identity is adherence to the discourse held by the practitioners theywill come into contact with during practicum, and if it is true that the conducts whichare developed, notably through modelling, define their entry profile, then what kindof relationship will they have with computer technology in school? The probabilitythat a new teacher has accomplished even a small part of the practicum in the companyof an innovative teacher regarding ICT integration is as small as their own presencecan be within the pool of experienced teachers who accept to have students in trainingin their classroom. Therefore, by definition, within a professional realm innovators aremarginal and the teaching profession, particularly concerning the integration ofcomputerised school material, does not stray far from the rule (Peraya et al. 2002;Gauthier and Mellouki 2003).
Moreover, if for the past 10 or so years the level of basic computer literacy amongstudents who join teacher education programmes is seen as a reflection of how ICTare penetrating society, it is important to note that their integration into universityteaching practices has yet to evolve at the same rhythm. By 2000, in the majority ofCanadian universities, the use of ICT – other than PowerPoint slides and multimediaprojectors as a replacement for transparencies and overhead projection – remainedmarginal (Proulx and Campbell 1997; Larose et al. 1999; Privateer 1999). The situa-tion does not seem to have developed very much since then, at least regarding teachereducation as it is experienced in North American universities (Chen 2004; Volman2005). The amount of exposure future teachers get to the use of ICT in pedagogical ordidactic contexts during their pre-service education risks being as occasional andlacking in diversity as much at university as in the field.
Evolution of ICT skills and attitudes toward the use of computer technology in school among future primary and secondary school teachers
From 1998–1999 to 2003–2004, we collected data by the means of a questionnaireamong successive groups of students, from the first to fourth year, in pre-service
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teacher education for pre-school and primary school (BEPP), as well as secondaryschool (BES-BEALS). We used a ‘convenience’ sample, consisting of the studentswho were present in the classroom at the Faculty of Education of the University ofSherbrooke, when the questionnaire was distributed. In total, we collected informationfrom 3970 students from these two programmes: 63% in the BEPP programme and37% in the BES-BEALS programme (see Table 1). This sample closely reflects thedistribution of the general population of students in these two programmes fromautumn 1998 to today.
The distribution of the sub-samples by gender and age grouping also represents thegeneral profile of the groups in both programmes, as well as the entry profile to theFaculty of Education. On average, approximately 95% of the students in the pre-schooland primary school teaching programme are female, whereas the male representationis clearly higher (35%) for the secondary school programme. The variables ‘gender’and ‘programme of belonging’ are significantly associated (L2 = 531.71[14]; p <0.0001). The average age at entry in both programmes is also significantly different(F = 68.27 [7.3366]; p < 0.0001), the students from both programmes being separatedby one year at the beginning of their studies (BEPP, µ = 20.4 years; BES-BEALS, µ= 21.1 years).
At the start of their university studies, the proportion of students not possessing apersonal computer at home greatly decreased between 1999 and 2004, going from15% to 8.5% for BEPP students and from 11% to 5% for BES-BEALS students.During the same period, the proportion of students who, in their first year, did not havean Internet connection at home went from 45% to 35% for BEPP students and from31% to 27% for BES-BEALS students.
In parallel, the percentage of graduating students (fourth year) who do not possessa personal computer at home went from 8% to less than 1% for BEPP students andfrom 1.1% to none for BES-BEALS students. Finally, during this period, the propor-tion of those who did not have an Internet connection at home went from 9.3% to 5.2%for BEPP students and from 15.1% to 6.9% for BES-BEALS.
Instrument
Within the framework of this longitudinal survey, the instrument essentially consistedof a survey questionnaire that was relatively quick to administer (on average 10–15
Table 1. Distribution of sample by programme and year in the reference programme.
Programme and year N Percentage
BEPP 1 784 19.7BEPP 2 749 18.9BEPP 3 568 14.3BEPP 4 404 10.2BES-BEALS 1 363 9.1BES-BEALS 2 458 11.5BES-BEALS 3 342 8.6BES-BEALS 4 302 7.6Total 3970 100
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minutes to answer). The questionnaire consisted mostly of multiple answer questionsand some open-ended questions, essentially on the identification of courses and disci-plines open to the use of ICT at university. It was split into three major parts. The firstone dealt with the general identification of the subjects (gender, age, programme andyear in the programme) and of the type of computerised equipment at their disposal.The second part dealt mainly with self-evaluation for the levels of mastery of varioussoftware, as well as frequency and reasons of use. The third part was composed of 14items, making up a measuring tool for students’ attitudes toward technology in generaland more particularly computer technology in school. Finally, a fourth part dealt withidentifying places where students were exposed to or where they used ICT, at theuniversity or in the field during practicum. It contained both open and closed items.The basic questionnaire format remained identical throughout the years; however,some items were added in 2000 and 2003.
Metric structure of the attitude scale
A principal component analysis with varimax rotation of the behaviour displayed bythe 14 elements associated to the measure of attitudes allowed us at the beginning toidentify three distinct factors, explaining 59% of the total observed variance. The firstfactor, grouping eight items at a saturation superior to 0.600, corresponded to ageneral attitude measure regarding the use of technology. The second factor, groupingthree items at a saturation superior to 0.500, corresponded to a stress measure in rela-tion to the use of ICT in a school context. The third factor, also grouping three itemsat a saturation superior to 0.500, corresponded to an attitude measure regarding the useof ICT during the preparation and application phases of teaching. Nonetheless, theinternal alpha coefficients calculated (Cronbach’s alpha) do not allow us to keep morethan two scales, whose distribution in fact is not intercorrelated, and therefore measuredistinct constructs effectively.
● General attitude toward the use of technology: α = 0.865● Stress regarding the use of computer technology in school: α = 0.667
Considering the effect of the answer format structure, dichotomous items, on the totalvariability of these scales, the internal alpha coefficients obtained are satisfying.
Results
The results presented in the following pages concern only the evolution of attitudesand computer skills profile among BEPP and BES-BEALS student groups from 1999to 2002 and from 2000 to 2003. In fact, at the Faculty’s request, we did not administerany questionnaires during the 2001–2002 school year, in order to reduce the effect ofover-solicitation on students created by so many professors doing research. This way,the groups who began their studies in 1999 and in 2000 gave us data that allow us tomake comparisons on their trajectories regarding ICT and their use, between entry andgraduation that corresponds to obtaining a teacher’s licence in Quebec.
First, we made a series of multiple correspondence analyses (MCA) by integratingthe variables ‘group’, ‘exposure or non exposure to the use of ICT in a learningcontext at university’ and ‘frequency of use of email or Internet by students’ to the
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model. For editing economy reasons, we have integrated the first graphical presenta-tion of a factorial plan (Figure 1) that gives the same information as that presented asFigure 2.Figure 1. MCA effects of the progression in the programme and of the exposure to ICT within the university courses 1999–2002 cohort.As the reader will be able to see by consulting Tables 2 to 5, both BEPP groups,as well as BES-BEALS groups, show a systematic evolution of their profiles regard-ing the use of communication tools (email and Internet) between their entry and theend of their trajectory in the programme. Incidentally, the fact that students wereexposed to the use of technology during their courses as a requirement to accomplishtheir homework or as a means of teaching by the professors only begins to generallydiscriminate the frequency of Internet or email use in the third year, as much in thisprogramme as among the future secondary school teachers.
Next, we proceeded with a series of MCA by integrating into the model the follow-ing variables: ‘group’, ‘exposure or non-exposure to ICT use in a learning context atuniversity’ and ‘self-evaluation of ICT skills for office and communication softwareused by students’. As the reader will no doubt note by consulting Tables 6 to 9,
2.0
1.5
1.0
5
0.0
5
1.0
1.5
1.5
1.0
5
0.0
5
1.0
Course : computer science ina learning context
Frequency of email use
Frequency of navigation on Internet
Programme + time
noyes
regularly
oftensometimes
never
often
sometimes
neverEPPC1_T4
EPPC_T2
EPPC_T1regularly
Figure 1. MCA effects of the progression in the programme and of the exposure to ICT withinthe university courses 1999–2002 cohort.
Table 2. MCA effects of progression in the programme and of exposure to the use of ICT inBEPP courses group, 1999–2002.
Programme + time
Course: computer science in a learning
context
Frequency of navigation on
InternetFrequency of email
use
Elementary 1999–2000 No Never NeverElementary 2000–2001 No / Yes Sometimes / Often Sometimes / OftenElementary 2001–2002 Yes Regularly Regularly
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between 1999 and 2000, the proportion of students in the first year groups for bothprogrammes who say they possess no skills in both domains is more marginal. Inci-dentally, the self-evaluation progression of the level of mastery, as much for the mainsoftware in Office Suite (office software) as for the communication software (emailand Internet browser), is level and regular from the second year to the last year of theprogramme. In all, it is in the last year of the programme that most subjects evaluatethemselves as experts regarding the use of these two types of environment.
Evolution of attitudes and stress toward computer science
Then, we carried-out a series of one-way and multifactor ANOVAs by using the yearof the programme and exposure or non-exposure to ICT use by associate teachers(mentors) during practicum. Although we were not able to identify any interactioneffect between these variables, as much regarding the general attitude of studentstoward computer science as the stress felt in relation to ICT use in a school context,
Table 3. MCA effects of progression in the programme and of exposure to the use of ICT inBEPP courses group, 2000–2003.
Programme + time
Course: computer science in a learning
context
Frequency of navigation on
InternetFrequency of email
use
Elementary 2000–2001 No Never NeverElementary 2001–2002 Yes Sometimes / Often Sometimes / OftenElementary 2003–2004 Yes Regularly Regularly
Table 4. MCA effects of progression in the programme and of exposure to the use of ICT inBES-BEALS courses group, 1999–2002.
Programme + time
Course: computer science in a learning
context
Frequency of navigation on
InternetFrequency of email
use
Secondary 1999–2000 No Never NeverSecondary 2000–2001 No Sometimes / Often Sometimes / OftenSecondary 2001–2002 Yes Regularly Regularly
Table 5. MCA effects of progression in the programme and of exposure to the use of ICT inBES-BEALS courses group, 2000–2003.
Programme + time
Course: computer science in a learning
context
Frequency of navigation on
InternetFrequency of email
use
Secondary 2000–2001 No Never NeverSecondary 2001–2002 No Sometimes SometimesSecondary 2003–2004 Yes Often / Regularly Often / Regularly
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the univariate measures enable us to identify certain significant differences bothbetween groups and according to exposure to ICT use during practicum. A quick lookat Tables 10 and 11 allows us to note that there is a systematic evolution of attitudefor all of the groups, except BES-BEALS (2000) towards a more positive evaluationof the students’ relationship with ICT. In the same way, we note a significant decreaseof the recorded stress level related to the use of computer science in a classroom
Table 7. MCA effects of progression in the programme and of self-evaluation of ICT skillsBEPP group, 2000–2003.
Programme + time
Course: computer science in a learning
context
Expertise level of office
software use
Expertise level of communication
software use
Elementary 2000–2001 No Null / Beginner Null / BeginnerElementary 2001–2002 Yes Good GoodElementary 2003–2004 Yes Expert Expert
Table 8. MCA effects of progression in the programme and of self-evaluation of ICT skillsBES-BEALS: group 1999–2002.
Programme + time
Course: computer science in a learning
context
Expertise level of office
software use
Expertise level of communication
software use
Secondary 1999–2000 No Null / Beginner Null / BeginnerSecondary 2000–2001 No Good GoodSecondary 2001–2002 Yes Expert Expert
Table 9. MCA effects of progression in the programme and of self-evaluation of ICT skillsBES-BEALS group, 2000–2003.
Programme + time
Course: computer science in a learning
context
Expertise level of office
software use
Expertise level of communication
software use
Secondary 2000–2001 No Null / Beginner Null / BeginnerSecondary 2001–2002 Yes Good GoodSecondary 2003–2004 Yes Expert Expert
Table 6. MCA effects of progression in the programme and of self-evaluation of ICT skillsBEPP group, 1999–2002.
Programme + time
Course: computer science in a learning
context
Expertise level of office
software use
Expertise level of communication
software use
Elementary 1999–2000 No Null / Beginner Null / BeginnerElementary 2000–2001 No Good GoodElementary 2001–2002 Yes Expert Expert
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context between the first year and the following years of presence in the programme,except for the BES-BEALS group (2000).
Incidentally, the calculation of differences between the observed averages, asmuch for the general attitude scale as for the stress scale, by using Student’s t-test,enables us to observe a generally more positive attitude among students who wereexposed to ICT use by their associate teachers during practicum than among theircolleagues who were not (Table 12). These students also display a level of stress thatis significantly lower than their colleagues’ regarding the use of computer technologyin school (Table 13).
Table 10. One-way ANOVA, general attitude toward ICT scale.
Group and programme Calculated F df p Differences
BEPP (1999) 1540.48 2.447 0.0001 More positive attitude in 2nd and 4th than in 1st
BEPP (2000) 32.78 2.421 0.0001 More positive attitude in 3rd and 4th than in 1st
BES-BEALS (1999) 479.50 2.265 0.0001 More positive attitude in 2nd and 4th than in 1st
BES-BEALS (2000) 0.980 2.281 ns No significant difference between groups
Table 11. One-way ANOVA, stress related to the use of ICT in a school context scale.
Group and programme Calculated F df p Differences
BEPP (1999) 149.58 2.458 0.0001 Stress level is significantly lower in 2nd and 4th thanin 1st
BEPP (2000) 12.11 2.424 0.0001 Stress level is significantly lower in 3rd and 4th than in 1st
BES-BEALS (1999) 102.48 2.277 0.001 Stress level is significantly lower in 2nd and 4th thanin 1st
BES-BEALS (2000) 1.58 2.288 ns No significant difference between groups
Table 12. Calculated t-test, general attitude toward ICT scale.
Group and programme Calculated t Homogeneity of variances df p
BEPP (1999) 16.76 Not homogenous 338.46 0.0001BEPP (2000) 8.19 Not homogenous 393.99 0.0001BES-BEALS (1999) 11.17 Not homogenous 261.22 0.0001BES-BEALS (2000) 2.28 Homogenous 289 0.024
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Finally, in order to explain the absence of significant differences between themeasures taken among the successive BES-BEALS (2000) groups, as muchregarding attitude as stress felt toward use of computer technology in school, wecarried-out two one-way ANOVAs with the average score of both scales for allfour groups (BEPP and BES-BEALS) in their first and fourth year. The attitude offirst year students in the BES-BEALS (2000) group toward ICT is significantlymore positive than that of their first year peers in the same programme or of theBEPP groups beginning their studies in 1999 and 2000. The same goes for stressfelt towards computer technology in school, which for this group is significantlylower than for the other three groups of students beginning their studies in 1999 orin 2000.
Discussion
At the beginning of the previous section, we noted that the percentage of the studentpopulation possessing neither a computer nor a connection to the Internet when stud-ies began fell dramatically between 1999 and 2004. However, the proportion of thosewho did not possess a connection to the Internet decreased much less rapidly duringthis period than for students who did not possess a computer. One can interpret thisby seeing the reflection of a national tendency for ICT to make their way intoCanadian and Quebec households (Statistique Canada 2001, 2003; CEFRIO 2005,2006, 2007). During the period covered by our study, the increase in computerpurchases among Canadian families climbed steadily, though the pace has signifi-cantly decreased since 2002, when the growth rate of Internet connection levelled outfor the middle class, decreased for the lower-income population and continued toincrease for higher-income families.
The systematic increase in the frequency of ICT among students in bothprogrammes between the first and fourth year is not surprising. In fact, until Septem-ber 2003 (the date of the most recent update of the BEPP and BES-BEALSprogrammes), neither included support measures or upgrade for student ICT skills atthe moment of entry. In fact, the only compulsory course on the use of computer tech-nology in school was offered in the second year. Thus, it is possible to consider thatthe concomitant evolution of students’ feeling of competence relating to the use ofcomputer environments, be they office or communication technology, correspondedwith teaching and learning requirements in both target programmes. Since the end ofthe 1990s, almost all courses require that trimester homework be handed in electron-ically. In the same way, a majority of courses require that in-class activities of studentpresentations be accomplished by using computer technology (e.g. use of PowerPointsoftware). The trends that are observed can thus be considered as an affect of their
Table 13. Calculated t-test, stress related to the use of computer technology in school scale.
Group and programme Calculated t Homogeneity of variances df p
BEPP (1999) 10.22 Homogenous 459 0.0001BEPP (2000) 5.16 Homogenous 425 0.0001BES-BEALS (1999) 7.94 Homogenous 278 0.001BES-BEALS (2000) 2.40 Homogenous 289 0.017
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adaptation to academic requirements on the construction of skills related to the privateuse of computers.
It is also possible to consider that the progressive evolution of attitudes amongboth BEPP groups and the BES-BEALS (1999) group reflects this reality. An elementthat raises questions is the absence of significant differences regarding the general atti-tude toward computer science and the stress toward computer technology in schoolamong BES-BEALS students for the 2002 group between the beginning and the endof their studies. Although these students had a more positive attitude and a lower stresslevel than their colleagues in the 1999 group at entry, this difference is not due to thetraining they received at university. It can therefore be attributed to one of two otherprobable causes. This difference could reflect an evolution of the general attitudeamong young adults with identical profiles within the general population; an evolutionthat could have taken place over a period of a year, yet this does not seem very likely.This difference could also reflect the normal variability of profiles among the subjectscontained in our successive groups in relation to a single object or universe, whichclearly appears to be more probable.
Incidentally, our results confirm the important effect of student exposure to in-service teacher practices within the framework of their practicum. The fact that thereis no interaction between the effect of the variables ‘exposure during practicum’ and‘year of the programme’, or between the first variable and student exposure to require-ment or to use of ICT during university training, goes in the same direction as theimportance of the modelling effect on the probability of reproducing the observedpractices. Another element that raises questions is the autonomous behaviour of thesetwo mediating variables, particularly if it reflects the parallelism of learningexperiences by future teachers according to the environment, and consequently alsoaccording to the more or less formal character of training that is offered by theinstitution and in the field.
Indeed, without a specific device guaranteeing the integration of cognitive andconative contents of training to which students are exposed throughout the variousenvironments they are called to visit during training, the relativisation of theoreticallearnings attained at university, their excessive contextualisation and the relativeweight of behaviour modelled in the field are some of many stability factors for educa-tional practices that characterise the school environment (Larose et al. 2000; Gervaisand Desrosiers 2005). Now, if we consider the absence of significant difference in theprofile of computer technology in school use between the associate teachers and theentire population of primary and secondary school teachers in Quebec (Larose et al.2004), and if we consider the parameters that reduce the probability of ‘innovative’attitudes and educational practices among new teachers in immersion, the conclusionswe can pull from our data are quite simple. On the one hand, the proportion of futureteachers who integrate ICT according to the profile most common today – encourag-ing pupils to look for information, intermittently and in more or less interdisciplinaryprojects, or to use word-processing software and a spellchecker when being taughttheir mother tongue – may very well remain stable. On the other hand, the proportionof their peers who do not use or who use ICT resources in their teaching practices onlyvery intermittently, since they were not exposed to them during their pre-service fieldtraining sessions, may very well also remain stable, at least in the coming years.Research done with smaller samples of BEPP students in 2005 and 2006 suggestssimilar conclusions (Grenon 2007).
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Conclusion
All in all, one of the probable conditions for the evolution of teaching practices regard-ing the pedagogical integration of ICT probably resides in the amplification of theimportance given to continuing education among in-service teachers, particularlyamong those who have students in training. In a logic where integrated training, whichallows a critical confrontation of university and field experiences by future teachers,is accountable for the progressive evolution of practices as successive groups of newteachers integrate the workforce, coherence between the discourse and practicesobserved is most important.
Thus, the evolution of future teachers’ behaviour toward this coherence requiresadjusting the discourses and practices of the various actors who take part in offeringpre-service teacher education, in relation to the foundations of the new curriculumand, consequently, of the role given to ICT as context for the development of subject-specific and cross-curricular competencies. In turn, this implies changes of a deeperkind in the relationship that teachers have, not only with computerised school materialand the advantages they can get from using them, but also with the epistemologicalfoundations of the teaching and learning processes that take place daily in theclassroom.
Evolution of the profile for ICT use in teaching cannot be conceived of or plannedindependently from the progressive evolution of practices belonging to mentors. Indi-viduals in a situation of job and professional identity insecurity, as is the case withnew teachers during their occupational integration, only represent a factor of changein so far as the professional behaviours they deploy in their new workplace fit, at leastin part, with those defined by the local culture. Without this, they know very well thatthey will pay the price when they are evaluated by their mentors as students, or bytheir peers as new professionals, in the process of induction. The development ofcontinuing education in relation to the pedagogical integration of ICT from an episte-mological perspective that fits with the new curriculum perspective is therefore themain condition for the evolution of students’ representations and attitudes towardcomputer technology in school during pre-service teacher education. The study ofstrategies meant to help the transition between university and field is, in turn, the firstthing to do if we wish future generations of teachers to differentiate themselves fromtoday’s in-service teachers concerning the use of ICT and every other dimension thatcharacterises teaching. Can we succeed? It will be up to the institutions who offer pre-service teacher education, as well as the Ministry of Education, to implement thedesired modifications in undergraduate and continuing education programme in orderto find answers.
Notes on contributors
François Larose is a professor at the Faculty of Education of the University of Sherbrooke, Canada.He has been responsible for a research programme on ICT integration in teaching in learning inQuébec since 1995. His work in this field is related to the study of the effectiveness of ICTintegration measures within the pre-service formation programmes, follow-up of the educationaltechnologies utilisation by Québec’s teachers and comparative studies of the relationshipsbetween students’ use of ICT at home and their attitude toward educational utilisation.
Vincent Grenon is a PhD student at the Faculty of Education of the University of Sherbrooke,Canada. He has been a research assistant and a lecturer within the Faculty since 2001. His
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thesis concerns the impact of the modelling effects of the pre-service field training sessions onthe self-efficacy beliefs of the students while integrating ICT in teaching and learning.
Marie-Pier Morin is a professor at the Faculty of Education of the University of Sherbrooke,Canada. Her research is focused mainly on the effects of the integration of geometry teachingsupport software (Cabri-géomètre) on elementary school students’ learning in mathematics.
Abdelkrim Hasni is a professor at the Faculty of Education of the University of Sherbrooke,Canada. He is also acting director of the Center of Research in Youth, Science Teaching andLearning. His research interests are focused mainly on science and technology teaching andteachers’ readiness, ICT in the teaching of sciences at the elementary and secondary leveland interdisciplinary teaching.
Notes
1. Larose, F., T. Karsenti, Y. Lenoir, and G.-R. Roy. 2001–2004. Formation initiale àl’enseignement primaire, pratiques d’utilisation des TICE en milieu de stage et probabilitéde recours pédagogique à l’informatique en insertion professionnelle. Ottawa: SocialSciences and Humanities Research Council, Standard Research Grants Program, grant no.410-2001-0814.
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