On May 12, the Institute for Research in Didactics and Education (IRDENa) at the University of Namur is organizing a seminar dedicated to a topic at the heart of current concerns in initial and continuing teacher education: training through professional practice.
In a context where expectations of the teaching profession and the realities on the ground are evolving rapidly, and where policymakers entrust the field with a significant portion of future teachers’ training through the requirement of a long-term internship, practical experience plays a decisive role in the development of professional competencies, professional skills, and educational approach. This essential practice also raises many questions:
- What challenges does training in (with and through) professional practice face today?
- What obstacles still hinder its implementation or quality?
- What challenges must training institutions, partner schools, and trainers address?
- What concrete benefits does professional immersion offer for both aspiring and practicing teachers?
To shed light on these questions, the event will feature two speakers:
- Catherine Van Nieuwenhoven, professor and international expert on teacher education and work-integrated learning programs;
- Sephora Boucenna, a researcher at IRDENa, whose work focuses on professional development through practice and the analysis of field experiences.
Their combined perspectives, blending scientific expertise, institutional analysis, and a nuanced understanding of the field, will fuel a collective discussion on the levers to strengthen and the avenues to explore in order to support practical training that is ambitious, coherent, and efficient in light of current policy challenges.
The program will continue with a roundtable bringing together colleagues from various universities, who will compare their perspectives on the training of student teachers. Their discussion will focus in particular on training needs, mentoring models, institutional challenges, and the conditions necessary to organize this training effectively.
Finally, the day will give significant attention to real-world practice through testimonials from several mentor teachers, who have been invited to share their experiences, their support practices, as well as the tensions that arise in their daily professional lives. These accounts will help ground the discussion in the concrete realities of schools and highlight the importance of the partnership between academic institutions and compulsory education.
This study day is intended for researchers, trainers, teachers, as well as anyone involved in teacher education who wishes to contribute to a shared reflection on the future of the profession.
