Guillaume Escalié

Helping students build competences in physical education: theoretical proposals and illustrations

ABSTRACT In the French education system, the current curriculum for students from the primary to the end of secondary school is structured around the notion of key competence. A competence can be defined as an integrated and stable network of knowledge and know-how, with normative behaviors, procedures and types of reasoning. However, without a theoretical conceptualization of building and mobilization processes, the components of a competence are considered as isolated and not interconnected. In the health and physical education (HPE) setting, too few empirical studies have analyzed how teachers would contribute to the development of student’s competence. The aim of this forward-looking article grounded on an experiential and cultural framework consists in clarifying and illustrating a conceptualization of the dynamics of development of competences among students considering the teacher activity. This theoretical framework seems to offer heuristic possibilities for the examination of teaching and learning practices which contribute to the development of the key competences, particularly when a competence is read as an experience that integrates multiple dimensions. Based on audio-video recording of PE lessons and self-confrontation interviews with the teacher and a student, the results of the present study strengthen the criticism of the definition of competence emphasizing the relevance to adopt a holistic approach corresponding to the articulation of intertwined resources (i.e. motor, methodological and social) students allocate to act in PE groups. Furthermore, the results show that the competence building depends on various roles students have the opportunity to play in PE (i.e. observer, tutor). Finally, our results underline the importance of identifying the specific characteristics of the teacher activity designed to structure the learning environment to train students to acquire new competences transferable in society.

Supporting the work arrangements of cooperating teachers and university supervisors to better train preservice teachers: a new theoretical contribution

Abstract This longitudinal case study examines whether a school-based training scheme that brings together different categories of teacher educators (university supervisors and cooperating teachers) engenders true collective training activity and, if so, whether this collective work contributes to pre-service teacher education. The scheme grew out of a recent French reform policy. The study is based on an original theoretical conception of teacher education that borrows postulates from a theory of learning and collective action (Wittgenstein 1996). Illustrated by excerpts from post-lesson meetings and self-confrontation interviews, the results suggest that the training scheme does not always lead to collective training activity. The difficulties are notably due to disagreement between the educators about attributing meaning to the pre-service teacher’s classroom activity, which hampers professional development. On this basis, proposals are made to contribute to an effective and authentically shared supervision process and to reposition training activity at the heart of the processes of pre-service teacher professional development.