Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
| Master of education, Section 4: Social sciences | 5 crédits |
Lecturer
Jean-François Guillaume, Marie Housen, Mickaël Idrac, Doriane Jaegers, Pierre Lerusse, N..., 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 is not just about transmitting knowledge: it also means being able to question one's practices, to mobilize and contribute to research-based knowledge, in order to develop contextualized responses to educational challenges. In a complex school context, this ability to draw on research becomes an essential component of a teacher's professional identity (Karsenti & Savoie-Zajc, 2018).
This is the perspective of the decree of February 7, 2019, on initial teacher training. This decree strengthened the role of educational research in the curriculum. It specifies that training must enable students to "develop a reflective stance" and "use research to analyze and develop their practices" (Article 5). It also provides a specific focus "on and through research in education and didactics" (Article 19).
In this context, this course provides an introduction to the research culture in education and disciplinary didactics. It pursues four objectives:
1. Identify the essential elements of the scientific research approach.
2. Introduce students to documentary research.
3. Critically read scientific articles in the field of education and didactics.
4. Identify and articulate the components of scientific research (research question, data collection, corpus creation, analytical framework, methods, data analysis).
Research is therefore not approached as an external activity or one reserved for specialists, but as a component of teaching practice that allows for a better understanding of what is at stake in educational situations. It contributes to fostering a reflective and critical stance by distancing certain professional assumptions (Kahn et al., 2018). By mobilizing varied approaches - both qualitative and quantitative (Karsenti & Savoie-Zajc, 2018) - research thus constitutes a lever for learning and professional development for future teachers.
Specifically, the course offers a progressive and experiential approach that leads to:
- Introducing students to the key concepts of a research approach (research issues, questions, and hypotheses);
- Familiarizing students with the literature, methodological approaches, and research subjects in education and disciplinary or general didactics;
- Supporting students in documentary research, critical reading, and understanding scientific texts;
- Introducing the various methods of data collection or corpus selection, their scientific and practical advantages and disadvantages;
- Introducing students to the fundamentals of data analysis, both quantitative and qualitative;
- Introducing students to the research methods and questions specific to their disciplinary didactics;
- Equipping students with scientific writing skills.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Read, analyze, and relate scientific literature in education and/or disciplinary didactics to their professional practice;
- Formulate a relevant research question based on scientific literature, align it with an appropriate theoretical framework and methodology, and relate these elements to data to be analyzed.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
No administrative prerequisites are required to take this course. However, it is recommended that students have:
- proficiency in reading and understanding scientific texts in French, and an openness to reading in English;
- writing and argumentation skills;
- intellectual curiosity and a willingness to reflect on their professional practice.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Lectures. Readings of scientific articles. Exercises.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Further information:
Face-to-face, with integration of digital tools (eCampus platform) for the provision of resources, the submission of work 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 on education and didactics. Reference works on educational research methodology.
Written work / report
Further information:
Thesis project includes:
- a contextualized problem and a precisely formulated research question,
- an initial theoretical framework articulated to the question,
- a justified methodological proposal,
- a scientific bibliography.
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Contacts
Doriane Jaegers djaegers@uliege.be
Marie Housen marie.housen@uliege.be
Mickaël Idrac midrac@uliege.be
Jean-François Guillaume, Jean-Francois.Guillaume@uliege.be