Science training for primary school teachers in Science France

Science training for primary school teachers in Science France

David Jasmin, La main à la pâte, France

European summer school for primary science trainers , Erice, July 2005

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July 20052

Outlines

French context pre and in-service training in France La main à la pâte contribution to teachers professional development• Training principles• Pilot centers• Website • Others training activities

Conclusions


French Context

Primary education• 61 000 primary schools• 350 000 classes• Kindergarten: 99.5% of the 3 –

6 years old• Elementary: 100 % of the 6 –

11 years oldPrimary school teachers• Polyvalent teachers (same

teacher for all subjects)• Recruited at level high school

+5 (since 1991)• 75 % literary / 80 % women


French context (2)

Situation in France in 1995• Focus on reading/ writing/ counting

– 4 hours/week for– Science– History/Geography– Civic education

• Sciences in < 3% classes– Often biology – Often frontal pedagogy

• Rare in training sessions• Few experiment material at the school• No link with scientific community


French context (3)1995 – 1996• small scale experimentation based on Hands’on approach in

344 classes called La main à la pâte2000• The experimentation has expanded to over 5 000 classes• The Ministry launch an official Plan for quality

science/technology teaching in all schools (350 000 classes) inspired by La main à la pâte / Implementation of local and national plan management committees / Financial support for training sessions

2002• New national Curriculum inspired by La main à la pâte and

focus on inquiry process : question-observation- argumentation – synthesis – science notebook

• 7 % of in-service training dedicated to Sciences2003- 2004• Publication of resources for teachers and trainers (guide for

teacher training (Ministry of Education)2004-2005• New data : ~ 25 % teachers teach science, mostly with an

active pedagogy• But decrease of in-service training session ( 3%)


Teachers fear to teach sciences

« I don’t know / I’m not a scientist »• Afraid of doing science and experimental work

Using active pedagogy• change their status in the classroom• Afraid of saying « I do not know » to children• Afraid of losing the control of the classroom:

– allowing the children to speak– putting the children in groups– Keep things in order, buying material…

Training aims at changing attitude toward sciences and their position in the classroom


Pre-service training

data• In charge of IUFM ( university center ~ one

center / county)• 1 year for exam preparation + exam+ 1 year for

professional development• ~ 60 hrs of science 1st year ( for those who has

choose science option for the contest) / 2nd year : 40 hrs (for the others)

Trends• Decrease since 5 years• Less disciplinary approach ( in some counties)• In 2006, Science will be an mandatory proof in

teacher exam but written proof.


In-service training

National training plan ( for coordinators – very few science stage)

Department training plan ( for teachers) from 1 to 3 weeks + one or two science resources teachers for continuous support

County training plan : 12 hours / year - mandatory (

all fields)

national

Department

County


Pre-service training from a teacher point of view

Diversity of the offerDifferent kinds of training – time – content - approach / yearly planed /

/ different kinds of trainers / depend of the budget / during working days -supplied trainees / depending of the local educational authorities

No constraints• Except the 12 hours / year , a teacher can have access to an average of 1

week of training (all fields) /year BUT he has no obligation to be trained. • no commitment, no evaluation….

Tricky ( rend difficile) to establish coherent training strategy targeted the whole teacher except at local level ( priority decided by local educational authorities)

Positive points :Ministry of Education has decided to increase up to 8 % the rate of science in

service training , to identify 1 school resource per county. Training are more process focus than content focus.


Teacher training : training principles

Homomorphism principle : to train teachers as children will be taughtFrom this practical approach :• Analyze a possible transfer in class / Understand the different aspects of an inquiry /

process / Explore material /Acquire scientific concepts / links with other Fields / Have fun and be confident (You can do it yourself)

Involve (and invite) scientists to have a science insightsOrganize a post-training follow-upInvolve trainees in resource implementation and productions (class sequences, books, Websites...)


Teacher training

Issue : to convert the institution ( IUFM , ministry..) to this kind of training• IUFM trainers network (1

correspondent / region)• Meetings between trainers (Erice

1, national seminar) • Exhibition “ history of science

education”• Participation Map team to training

session• Production of learning ressources


Network of 14 pilot centers

Group of 50 to 200 classes in the same geographical areaContinuous support to teachersLocal websitesLocal resource centersCollective works (evaluation / strategy..)


Internet : a self training tool

Creation date : 1998• Lack of cooperation

in schools

Responsibility of :

• Académie des sciences

• Institut National deRecherche Pédagogique

5000 pagesLocally produced resources to teachersScientific and pedagogic hotline: consultants ( 200 experts)Linking teachers - trainers – scientistsEverything is free

http://www.inrp.fr/lamap


Other activities

Scientific partnership at school• More than 60 scientific centers involved• National reflection about partnership in

May 2004 (colloquium at ENSAM Paris)–Objectives–Different types of partnership–Rules

• Adoption of this charter by theMinistry of Education


Graines de sciences : working togetherWhy ?• Make teachers discover pleasure of

practicing science for itself (not only for teaching !)

• Make teachers learn scientific concepts, adopt scientific method

• Make teacher’s conception of science evolve

Who ?• 30 teachers / trainers and 8

scientistsWhen ?• Each year (in October)

During the session• Each scientist leads an informal

workshop (3 hours) close to its research subject

After the session• Scientists and teachers write

together the book “Graines de sciences”


Conclusion

In 10 years in France : science in 2-3% ~25-30 % classesTeacher training and coaching is still the main issue for generalization

BUTTraining and follow up depend on humans ( on not structures), ministry yearly budget and institutional instructionsAutonomy of trainers and teachers makes difficult to have a global and long term strategy and a quality control on training content

To reform science education, we need to political willingness and support, a definition of common principles, a long term and coherent policy, gather high quality resources for trainers.Scientist can play an essential role, by:• Accompanying teachers

– directly in classroom (~ science students as partners)– trough the Internet (~ researchers as scientific consultants)

• Training– teachers– teacher’s trainers

• Taking part in writing “official” books (guides for teachers and for trainers)Internet is very powerful :• Contributes to the professional development of teachers• Allows a rapid and massive diffusion of the new teaching practices

Tenacity : 10-20 years


Appendix


Perpignan pilot center

• Training centerTeacher training

• Resources centreDocuments, material

• Internet website

• University - CNRS• Local authorities

• Scientific companionship

• material

Educationallocal authority

• Impulsion

• coordination

schools schools schools schools schools schools schools

Referent teacherIn each county


From a local to an international network

+ 11 local websites representing a district

Best European teacher-training website 2001

Mirror sites

International Website(Mapmonde):

• For teachers (France,Colombia, Brazil, Senegal,Morocco, Quebec, Egypt,Serbia, Chile)

• Free resources

• Creating a communityaround the teaching ofscience at primary school http://www.mapmonde.org