Christophe Michaut

Factor analysis of a motivation questionnaire adapted to predoctoral French dental students

Background/purpose The motivations of dental students for their studies have largely been investigated in numerous countries using psychometric questionnaires. This is not the case in France since validated tools are still lacking. The aim of the present work was dedicated to the psychometric validation of a motivation questionnaire adapted for predoctoral French dental students. Material and methods The design corresponded to a monocentric study realized at the dental school of Nantes University, France. A 14-item questionnaire was translated into French and adapted for dental studies. It was autoadministered by the students between March 2014 and May 2014. Exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses were used to investigate the psychometric properties of the French version. Results The rate of reply was 88.7% with a sex allocation consisting of 44.4% men and 55.6% women. The internal reliability and the item-sampling adequacy of the questionnaire reached acceptance thresholds. Exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses established a four-factor structure with good internal reliability. The factors consisted in “altruism,” “status and incomes,” “scientific curiosity,” and “educational advantages.” Factors correlated well with the overall questionnaire. The overall motivation score did not differ between male and female students, although “altruism” was best scored by female students while “status and incomes” obtained a higher score in the population of male students. Both male and female students displayed similar “scientific curiosity” and “educational advantages” scorings. Conclusion Our data establish that the French motivation questionnaire has good psychometric properties and that it is relevant for further studies.

Petite enfance et scolarisation

Ce dossier presente des travaux recents, emanant de champs disciplinaires differents, concernant la petite enfance et la prescolarisation. S’interrogeant sur les evolutions de l’ecole maternelle et de son positionnement par rapport a l’ecole elementaire et aux structures non scolaires d’accueil et d’education des jeunes enfants, Pascale Garnier fait le constat d’une emprise croissante des orientations proprement scolaires, c’est-a-dire liees a l’ecole elementaire de l’ecole maternelle. Christophe Joigneaux analyse quant a lui, les processus de differenciation et de production d’inegalites des l’ecole maternelle, au sens ou ces processus apparaissent a ce niveau de la scolarite dans des domaines et des pratiques relevant de la raison graphique et de la forme scolaire, et qui sont a la fois pregnants des ce niveau de la scolarite et de plus en plus importants dans la suite du cursus. Ceci conduit l’auteur a interroger et a nuancer la pertinence de la distinction ou du Grand Partage entre formes orales pratiques et formes scripturo-scolaires, pour rendre compte de ces processus de differenciation precoces et des suivants. Enfin, Pierre Roques et al. ont etudie les modes de gestion et d’usage de l’espace interpersonnel chez les enfants de petite section de maternelle. Ils ont mis en evidence trois modes de gestion de cet espace, dont la stabilite durant l’annee scolaire et la mise en relation avec les modalites de participation sociale permettent de penser qu’ils relevent d’un developpement comportemental contribuant a la construction et a la differenciation des capacites interactives des enfants. Ce dossier apporte donc des connaissances et reflexions nouvelles sur un objet, l’ecole maternelle, qui a ete recemment au centre de debats et controverses, qu’il ne manquera pas d’eclairer.