Managing learner diversity: professional training workshop - S1 - French

Duration

24h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Edith El Kouba

Coordinator

Alix Dassargues

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Wyss et al. (2023) identified five professional gestures likely to promote academic success and well-being for all students: differentiating pedagogical practices, developing students' socio-emotional competencies, supporting executive functions and attentional capacities, assessing and providing feedback, and fostering the transfer of learning. While these professional gestures span all levels of education, their implementation takes on particular characteristics in early childhood settings, where developmental heterogeneity is at its greatest, where play constitutes the primary vehicle for learning, and where oral language plays a central and transversal role across all areas of development. It is within this perspective that the course on Pedagogical Management of Learner Heterogeneity - Practicum Workshop (Early Childhood) is situated, offering an exploration of several of these dimensions through both a research-informed lens and their concrete implementation in the classroom.

• A first part, dedicated to conceptual foundations, will aim to enable students to understand and analyse heterogeneity as it manifests in early childhood classrooms, across its developmental, linguistic, socio-economic and cultural dimensions. Students will be invited to critically examine the assumptions underlying differentiation practices and to distinguish between pedagogical differentiation and structural differentiation. Particular attention will be paid to the teacher's ethical stance towards heterogeneity, by exploring the tension between a compensatory logic, aimed at reducing gaps between students, and an emancipatory logic, aimed at enabling each child to progress from their own resources. The legal framework in force in the French-speaking Community of Belgium will also be presented as the institutional grounding for expected practices, including the right to enrolment in mainstream schools, the concept of reasonable accommodations, the common curriculum framework from the first year of early childhood education through to the sixth year of primary school as enshrined in the Pact for Excellence in Education and the Code of Fundamental and Secondary Education, as well as inclusive classroom arrangements and school-family transitions.
• A second part will serve as the bridge between conceptual foundations and their operationalisation in the classroom. It will focus on observation as a fundamental professional gesture in early childhood education: observing interactions, children's productions and behaviours in order to identify their needs, adjust scaffolding strategies and regulate teaching practices. Students will be introduced to structured observation tools designed to assess the dimensions of emotional support, classroom organisation and instructional support in teacher-child interactions (Pianta, La Paro & Hamre, 2008). Oral language, as a transversal driver of child development in early childhood settings, will occupy a central place in this section: students will be guided in identifying the language practices of teachers that are likely to support the linguistic development of all learners, including those with specific needs or growing up in multilingual contexts. This part is closely articulated with the course on Management of Learner Heterogeneity: Didactic Aspects (French Language).
• The third part of the course will be devoted to the progressive professionalisation of students in the implementation of differentiated practices. Drawing on the analysis of their own practice as observed during teaching placements, students will be invited to engage in a process of self-confrontation, enabling them to identify necessary adjustments and to regulate their professional gestures. This reflective approach will be enriched by a consideration of interprofessional collaboration as a lever for managing heterogeneity: in early childhood settings, addressing the diversity of children's needs requires close coordination between the classroom teacher, multidisciplinary teams, notably psycho-medical-social centres, professionals in the field of early education and families. The aim is to progressively guide students towards autonomy in the design and implementation of differentiated practices suited to the realities of the early childhood classroom.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

The course aims primarily to enable students to design differentiated activities adapted to the developmental and linguistic needs of children in early childhood education, in accordance with the specific characteristics of this level of schooling.

By the end of the course, students will be able to formulate a reasoned and argued reflection on the issues associated with the pedagogical management of learner heterogeneity in early childhood settings and with pedagogical differentiation. To this end, concepts related to observation, assessment, oral language support and interprofessional collaboration will be mobilised throughout the course.

Students will be able to analyse their classroom practices using observation frameworks and models of pedagogical differentiation, with a view to adjusting these practices in light of the findings identified.

In accordance with the decree defining initial teacher education (D. 07-02-2019, M.B. 11-08-2022), these learning outcomes contribute in particular to the development of the following competencies:

• The design and use of observation and assessment tools, the latter being specifically oriented towards a comprehensive and formative approach, promoting student accountability and active participation in their own learning (3eiii);
• The design and implementation of pedagogical differentiation practices (3eiv);
• Conducting, both individually and collaboratively with peers, a critical and rigorous observation and analysis of one's own teaching practices and their impact on students, with the aim of regulating and improving one's teaching (4b).

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

...

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

As Professional Training Workshops (PTW), active student participation is at the core of the pedagogical approach. The course is built on a close articulation between theoretical input, practical activities, and dedicated time for analysis and reflection, in order to foster the development of knowledge that is directly applicable to the professional situations encountered in early childhood classrooms.

Sessions will alternate between structured learning and knowledge consolidation phases led by the instructor, and phases of knowledge mobilisation and collaborative discussion. During each session, group work will allow students to reinvest the notions and concepts addressed in order to analyse situations drawn from their own field experience in early childhood settings, to confront different perspectives, and to collectively develop possible courses of action in response to the challenges posed by learner heterogeneity.

Students will thus be invited to engage in the various activities proposed, both individually and collectively, within a dynamic of knowledge construction, critical confrontation and perspective-taking. The ongoing alternation between theory, situational analysis and reflection on field experience aims to foster an active and contextualised appropriation of learning, by consistently connecting scientific knowledge to the professional realities of the early childhood classroom.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course


Further information:

The course will be delivered in face-to-face format only.

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus


Further information:

Course materials will include working documents (exercises, readings and observation frameworks) provided to students during class sessions. These documents, together with the various resources used by the instructor, will be made available to students via the eCampus platform.

The following readings related to pedagogical differentiation and oral language support in early childhood education are additionally recommended to students:

• Le rapport de synthèse de la Conférence de consensus du Centre national d'étude des systèmes scolaires (CNESCO, France) de 2017, intitulé « Différenciation pédagogique ». Accessible via : https://www.cnesco.fr/fr/differenciation-pedagogique/
• L'ouvrage intitulé « Comment favoriser les apprentissages scolaires », d'Anouchka Wyss, Katarina Gvozdic, Edouard Gentaz et Emmanuel Sander, paru en 2023 aux éditions Dunod.
• Le Code de l'enseignement fondamental et les textes du Pacte pour un enseignement d'excellence relatifs à l'inclusion et au tronc commun. Accessibles via : https://gallilex.cfwb.be/textes-normatifs/53604
• L'ouvrage de Sophie Kern sur le développement du langage chez le jeune enfant: Kern, S. (2019). Le développement du langage chez l'enfant: Théorie, clinique, pratique. De Boeck Supérieur.
• Does, L., Vanhoof, J., & Donche, V. (2024). A typology of learner profiles to anticipate and guide differentiation in primary classes. British Educational Research Journal, 50(3), 467-486. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4014
• Langelaan, B. N., van der Veen, I., & Volman, M. (2024). Differentiating instruction: Understanding the key elements. Teaching and Teacher Education, 139, 104577. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104577
• Spyropoulou, E. (2025). Differentiated education using technology in junior and secondary education. Education Sciences, 15(2), 71. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15020071
• Jorro, A., & De Ketele, J.-M. (2011). Évaluer pour former : repères pour une pratique réflexive. Bruxelles : De Boeck.
• Crahay, M., Wanlin, P., Issaieva, E., & Laduron, I. (2010). Fonctions, structuration et évolution des croyances (et connaissances) des enseignants. Revue française de pédagogie, 172(3), 85-129. 

Written work / report


Further information:

Assessment will consist of a written assignment to be submitted at the beginning of the examination session, the precise modalities of which will be specified during the course. The instructor reserves the right to adapt these modalities according to the number of students enrolled.

As Professional Training Workshops (AFP), attendance at all course sessions is compulsory. Unless exceptional circumstances are recognised as such by the course coordinators, two unjustified absences will result in a grade of absence for the AFP.

Work placement(s)

None. However, the competencies and learning outcomes developed throughout this course may be transferred to and applied during subsequent teaching placements.

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

As learning activities may draw upon lesson plans previously developed by students as part of their initial teacher education, as well as placement reports, written feedback following teaching placements, or any other records enabling them to recall field experiences in early childhood classrooms, students are strongly encouraged, wherever possible, to bring a laptop or tablet containing these documents or providing access to them.

Contacts

Edith El Kouba

email: edith.elkouba@uliege.be 

Association of one or more MOOCs

There is no MOOC associated with this course.