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 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

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July French Context Primary education primary schools classes Kindergarten: 99.5% of the 3 – 6 years old Elementary: 100 % of the 6 – 11 years old Primary school teachers Polyvalent teachers (same teacher for all subjects) Recruited at level high school +5 (since 1991) 75 % literary / 80 % women

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July 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

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July French context (3) 1995 – 1996 small scale experimentation based on Hands’on approach in 344 classes called La main à la pâte 2000 The experimentation has expanded to over classes The Ministry launch an official Plan for quality science/technology teaching in all schools ( 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 Sciences Publication of resources for teachers and trainers (guide for teacher training (Ministry of Education) New data : ~ 25 % teachers teach science, mostly with an active pedagogy But decrease of in-service training session ( 3%)

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July 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

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July 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) / 2 nd 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.

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July 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

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July Pre-service training from a teacher point of view Diversity of the offer Different 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 in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July Teacher training : training principles Homomorphism principle : to train teachers as children will be taught From 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 insights Organize a post-training follow-up Involve trainees in resource implementation and productions (class sequences, books, Websites...)

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July 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

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July Network of 14 pilot centers Group of 50 to 200 classes in the same geographical area Continuous support to teachers Local websites Local resource centers Collective works (evaluation / strategy..)

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July Internet : a self training tool Creation date : 1998 Lack of cooperation in schools Responsibility of : Académie des sciences Institut National de Recherche Pédagogique 5000 pages Locally produced resources to teachers Scientific and pedagogic hotline: consultants ( 200 experts) Linking teachers - trainers – scientists Everything is free

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July 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 the Ministry of Education

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July Graines de sciences : working together Why ? 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 scientists When ? 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”

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July Conclusion In 10 years in France : science in 2-3%  ~25-30 % classes Teacher training and coaching is still the main issue for generalization BUT Training and follow up depend on humans ( on not structures), ministry yearly budget and institutional instructions Autonomy 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 : years

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

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July Perpignan pilot center Training center Teacher training Resources centre Documents, material Internet website University - CNRS Local authorities Scientific companionship material Educational local authority Impulsion coordination schools Referent teacher In each county

Teacher training in France, David Jasmin, Erice, July 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 community around the teaching of science at primary school