Quality of Continuing Education: a Quebec Example in Teacher Education

Confronted with the diverse problems that university continuing education is facing, our presentation focuses on the continuing education of primary and secondary school teachers which indeed, is experiencing two problems: a decrease in government funding, and a decline in numbers, for university continuing education seems irrelevant for teachers who register in it. We choose to broach the question of the quality of higher education by dealing precisely with its relevance, a criterion which appears to be ahead of quality. Our reflection, encouraged by a recent government programme aimed at supporting the development of higher education for teaching personnel, leads us to consider partnership between the school environment and the university at three levels as being essential for the attainment of the relevance sought. A promising path is situated in teacher education teams regrouping university professors and professional personnel in the school environment, thus contributing towards solving the funding problems. Quality of Continuing Education: a Quebec Example in Teacher Education The University of Sherbrooke, following the example of several other Quebec and Canadian universities, proceeded during recent years towards a “quality” shift. Indeed, in 2008, it endowed itself with a framework policy on the quality of higher education which led to clarify the educational aims of all programmes, baccalaureate (1 st cycle), master’s (2 nd cycle), and doctoral (3 rd cycle). They were to orient the development of new programmes and the revision of those it dispenses. Despite efforts consented to for almost a decade, efforts that this policy bears witness to, the question of quality is posed in a particular way in the case of some programmes. We shall deal more specifically here with the continuing education of primary and secondary school teachers. Our presentation, based on teaching practices at the Faculty of Education, is registered in the axis of “Quality of teaching at the institutional level”, focusing on the “Organizational changes induced by involvement in quality teaching projects”. We shall first present the context concerning the education of teaching personnel in Quebec, and then expose some elements of the problem experienced at the Faculty of Education of our institution. Lastly, we shall present paths likely to orient the organization of university continuing education for primary and secondary school teachers, credited by the Faculty. 1. The case of education of primary and secondary school teachers in Quebec In Canada, the preservice education of teachers is the concern of each of the provinces. In Quebec, universities have been responsible for the preservice education of teachers since 1964. Parallel to the reform of the Quebec school system, since 2000, preservice education of teachers has undergone multiple revisions, notably at preschool, primary and high school levels. In 2001, the Ministry of Education of Quebec (MEQ) (Government of Quebec, 2001) published a profile of 12 professional competencies, which all Quebec teacher education programmes at preschool, primary and high school levels must now rely upon. The profile of competencies proposed by the MEQ in this movement of professionalization of teaching focuses on one competency, particularly important for the development of a professionality linked to continuing learning : “ To engage oneself in an individual and collective process of professional development “ (Government of Quebec, 2001b, p. 125). Thus, this profile of competencies, which led to the reform of preservice teacher education programmes, reaffirms the need for continuing education, the essential commitment of teaching personnel, and even specifies the competencies to be acquired, in close linkage with professional development throughout the career. However, despite the importance of the continuing education of teaching personnel, and the prescriptive character of this framework, continuing education in the university environment is confronted with difficulties. If several authors deplore its ineffectiveness (Cohen & Hill, 2000), for our part, we shall turn our attention more particularly here to the relevance of these programmes as perceived by the teaching personnel, a problem which appears as important as that of effectiveness. 2. The problem of the continuing education of teachers The statutory framework in which the preservice education of teachers is inscribed in Quebec states several conditions in terms of professionalism which should lead towards the pursuit of a university continuing education programme. Nevertheless, as the continuing education plan developed at the Faculty of Education of our university (Beauchesne, 2009) indicates, it is a decline in numbers of students in 2 nd cycle programmes that is observed, notably because of the low interest of in-service teachers for accredited education seen as too demanding, and it is the relevance of this education as they perceive it, that they call into question. This decline in numbers has, as a consequence, the slowing down of activities in some programmes, brought on because of the difficulty to gather a sufficient number of persons to form groups, and even the closing of programmes. This decline in numbers is all the more problematic for the university environment which, in a parallel fashion, has suffered a decrease in government grants for the 2 nd cycle programmes (a decline of 30% since 2006). Lastly, the analysis of the situation of higher education also illuminates the fact that rules and management modalities of university programmes are revealed as being little adapted to the particularities of the adult student body that must reconcile work with studies and family. Moreover, these observations must be examined in the light of an evolution of the teaching task and the working agreements that govern it. For example, for over fifteen years, the collective agreement governing the work of Quebec teachers has no longer been providing an increase in salary for additional years of scholarity obtained, as was previously the case. 3. A government solution : a new funding programme supporting continuing