Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Marie Housen, Mickaël Idrac, Doriane Jaegers, Pierre Lerusse, Audrey Renson, Grégory Voz, Christophe Winkin
Coordinator
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the second semester
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
Teaching does not merely consist in transmitting knowledge: it also entails the ability to question one's own practices, to mobilize research-based knowledge and to contribute to it, in order to develop context-sensitive responses to educational challenges. In a complex school environment, this ability to rely on research becomes an essential component of teachers' professional identity (Karsenti & Savoie-Zajc, 2018).
It is within this perspective that the Decree of 7 February 2019 on initial teacher education was enacted. This decree strengthened the role of educational research within the curriculum. It specifies that teacher education must enable students to "develop a reflective stance" and to "draw on research to analyze and improve their practices" (art. 5). It also establishes a specific axis devoted to and through research in education and didactics (art. 19).
Within this framework, this course provides an entry point into the culture of educational and subject-specific didactics research. It pursues four objectives:
- To identify the essential components of the scientific research process.
- To introduce students to documentary research.
- To critically read scientific articles in the fields of education and didactics.
- To identify and articulate the main components of scientific research (research question, data collection, corpus building, analytical framework, methods, data analysis).
Concretely, the course adopts a progressive and experiential approach that aims to:
- Introduce students to the key concepts of the research process (research issues, questions, and hypotheses);
- Familiarize students with scholarly writing, methodological approaches, and research objects in education and subject-specific or general didactics;
- Support students in literature searches, critical reading, and comprehension of scientific texts;
- Present various modalities of data collection or corpus construction, along with their scientific and practical advantages and limitations;
- Introduce students to the foundations of both quantitative and qualitative data analysis;
- Introduce students to methods and research questions specific to their subject didactics;
- Equip students with skills in academic writing.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Read, analyze, and connect the scientific literature in education and/or subject-specific didactics to their professional practice;
- Formulate a relevant research question on the basis of the scientific literature, relate it to a theoretical framework and an appropriate methodology, and connect these elements to empirical data for analysis.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
No administrative prerequisite is required for this course. However, it is recommended that students have:
- skills in reading and understanding scientific texts in French, and an openness to reading in English;
- writing and argumentation skills;
- intellectual curiosity and a disposition toward reflexivity on their professional practice.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
- Lectures.
- Readings of scientific articles.
- Practical exercises.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Further information:
Face-to-face, with the integration of digital tools (eCampus platform) for the provision of resources, submission of assignments, and support for individual productions.
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus
Further information:
- Lecture notes available on eCampus.
- Scientific articles in education and didactics.
- Reference works on research methodology in education.
Written work / report
Further information:
Individual assignment: thesis project including:
- a contextualized problem statement and a precisely formulated research question,
- an initial theoretical framework articulated with the research question,
- a justified methodological proposal,
- a scientific bibliography.
Participation in all seminars: a prerequisite for obtaining a grade ("green light") (further details will be given during the course).
Work placement(s)
Not applicable.
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Course co-organized by pedagogues, sociologists, and didacticians.
Contacts
Doriane Jaegers - djaegers@uliege.be
Marie Housen - marie.housen@uliege.be
Mickaël Idrac - midrac@uliege.be
- subject-specific didacticians + pedagogues from the HE