Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d'utilisation que vous pouvez consulter en ligne.https://apropos.erudit.org/fr/usagers/politique-dutilisation/ Cet article est diffusé et préservé par Érudit.Érudit est un consortium interuniversitaire sans but lucratif composé de l'Université de Montréal, l'Université Laval et l'Université du Québec à Montréal. Il a pour mission la promotion et la valorisation de la recherche. ABSTRACT. Experience may influence beliefs and beliefs may influence practices. Following these premises, we investigated teacher candidates' post experience reflections nine months after an international practicum where they taught for three weeks in rural Kenya. Teacher candidates were placed in non-governmental organization (NGO) sponsored schools on the Maasi Mara southwest of Nairobi. They taught in both elementary (Standard) and secondary (Form) classrooms. Eleven of these candidates responded to a questionnaire with open-ended prompts requiring reflective responses about the perceived impact of their experiences both personally and professionally. Responses were analyzed using qualitative methods to identify common themes and recurring ideas. Examining participants' responses allowed us to consider how teacher candidates perceived their personal beliefs to impact their personal and professional practices. The significance of the international practica on personal and professional beliefs and practices was evident in responses. Concerns and advantages about the impact of the international experience are explored and directions for further research are identified.

In March 2009, seventeen preservice teachers and their Faculty of Education supervisors spent three weeks living in rural Kenya and teaching in the schools built and supported by a well-known NGO. The impact of this experience on the preservice teachers was studied nine months after the trip. Now, over four years later, we have conducted a further phenomenological investigation with two of the original participants to examine their perception of the longevity of impact of this experience on their lives, their careers, and the personal and professional choices they make as a result of their Kenyan experience. Purposive sampling was used to illuminate the richness of individual experience and the philosophical synthesis each participant has undertaken to make strong commitments in their current choices and practices. It is evident that long-term impacts can be realized in relation to teachers' curriculum views, world views, and sense of personal empowerment from the experience of international practicum experiences in developing countries. Proposals for action by Faculties of Education are recommended.

This paper presents research on the benefits of service learning for pre-service teachers in the final year of their concurrent education program. The purpose of the research was to determine whether liberatory learning (Chambers, 2009) occurred for those students during a four-week service learning placement in organizations other than schools. Liberatory learning involves transformational shifts in social consciousness and provides service of benefit to both the participant and the host organization. Seventeen pre-service teachers and service learning supervisors completed questionnaires. Results suggest that service learning has the potential to be liberatory for pre-service teachers, but learning may remain tacit rather than explicit unless substantial opportunities for reflection are included in the service learning experience. Debriefing activities following the experience may be a critical contributor to helping participants realize the nature and extent of their learning.  

Complex concepts that relate to planning lessons, teaching them, and assessing learning may be very difficult for some teacher candidates. Relationships among ideas are difficult to name and identify as new teacher candidates begin learning about teaching. Five visual organizers have been prepared to support teacher preparation program goals in relation to the planning, teaching, and assessment skills of new teachers. These organizers have been used in both consecutive and concurrent teacher education programs. Teacher candidates’ reflections about these visual supports show that they value their ability to facilitate understanding of complex concepts. The purpose of this paper is to present and explain these organizers and how they are used in one teacher preparation program. Research related to their perceived value is mentioned but is peripheral in this theoretical conceptual paper.

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