Educational theory is no longer a subject of debate in Initial Teacher Training (ITT). The literature that exists shows that the need for theory is contested and the general mood is anti-theoretical. The confused emphasis on 'reflective practice' has led to a situation where 'practice' is re-described as 'theory". This study of ITT modern foreign languages (mfl) courses confirms that, in mfl, where theoretical concerns were once strong, theory, both in terms of the study of education and the applied theory of mfl has been marginalised. This study of higher education (HE) teacher trainers' and student teachers' views of theory is based on extensive interview data and analysis of the content of three programmes: the Post Graduate Certificate in Education: the PGCE/Martrise frangais langue etrangere, and the Certificat d'Aptitude au Professorat de I'Enseignement Secondaire. The findings of the study reflect the contemporary mood. Teacher trainers expressed ambivalent attitudes to theory and thought that it is enough for theory to be implicit in what is taught on their courses. Their notion of 'theory' is, in fact, 'principled guidance for practice'. Both student teachers and teacher trainers expressed an anti-theoretical attitude through an overriding concern for the development of the practical classroom skills related to meeting QTS standards. Student teachers expected mainly practical guidance for teaching from their HE courses. Likewise, their reading was limited to obtaining ideas and practical guidance for teaching and practiceorientated course assignments. However, one course, the PGCE/Martrise fIe shows that student teachers benefit from and value theory and that this makes a perceptible difference to the quality of their ITT experience. The conclusion of this study is that the pessimistic view of ITT implied by the prevailing anti-theoretical mood and a sense that practice is developed through practice can be challenged both programmatically and individually.

At present the most powerful and influential groups in education see the solution to matters of educational concern as mainly falling within the province of an educational research which is fundamentally scientific. This thesis sets out to examine whether this assumption can be substantiated and, in the possible scenario that it cannot, to look at an alternative form of educational research. It begins with the philosophical arguments which support the view that educational research, where it is empirical, should be mainly scientific and continues by looking at what contemporary educational researchers have said about the nature of educational research. The role philosophy of education might take in this context is also examined. The thesis continues by looking at the prescribed methodology of educational research and examines the philosophical assumptions of such a methodology. It continues by looking at the major assumption of scientific endeavour which is that it is nomological. The conclusions drawn from the aforegoing are that, for various philosophical reasons, the notion that educational research can be founded on scientific method and applied through a process parallel to engineering is fallacious and needs to be reviewed. A review of the philosophical situation with regard to understanding human beings as would be necessary to understanding them in an educational context is undertaken in the fourth chapter. This marks the beginnings of an alternative, non-scientific, framework for educational research. A case is made for the thesis that individual actions are understood properly against a background of information which includes beliefs, intentions and historical circumstances. Consideration is then given as to how this might be put in such a way as to be of practical use in the deliberation of how to tackle educational issues. The final chapter outlines how a possible substantive piece of educational research might look.

Cette recherche s’intéresse aux effets induits par les dispositifs numériques de partage social sur les pratiques de collaboration, de communication et de médiation d’étudiants, dans un contexte situé de formation à distance. L’objectif est d’appréhender le processus de collaboration à l’origine de l’apprenance collective qui s’illustre dans les communautés d’apprentissage, constituées en marge de l’institution académique. Notre approche empirique par systématique hypothético-déductive est une observation netnographique menée auprès d’individus inscrits en Bachelor et Mastère dans un centre de formation privé. Notre corpus est composé de 1405 messages recueillis sur les forums de la plateforme institutionnelle et sur Facebook ou Google+ pour les groupes communautaires à l’initiative des étudiants. Nous recourons à une catégorisation de l’activité d’apprentissage suivant quatre dimensions intrinsèques à l’intervention des usagers sur les forums. Les phénomènes observés sont analysés suivant trois variables dépendantes : la temporalité, la reconnaissance sociale et le pouvoir hiérarchique. Notre ancrage est la théorie critique des médias de l’école de Francfort. Nous faisons l’hypothèse que les dispositifs sociotechniques d’information et de communication participent de l’horizontalisation des usages estudiantins. Nos observations de terrain révèlent en effet que les apprenants préfèrent s’en remettre à leurs pairs plutôt que solliciter l’institution ou les tuteurs en ligne. S’ils privilégient leur disponibilité indéfectible, ils accordent une plus grande importance à leur réactivité. Nous pensons que le clivage qui oppose l’environnement académique à la sphère estudiantine est pour partie le fait de deux temporalités distinctes. L’une verticale, celle de l’environnement numérique de travail (ENT), l’autre plus horizontale, caractérisée par les échanges entre pairs au sein de l’environnement personnel d’apprentissage (EPA). L’asynchronisme qui résulte de ces deux dispositifs engendre des effets de détournement d’usage par lesquels les étudiants exportent les ressources institutionnelles vers leur communauté. Mais l’analyse des praxis communautaires révèle d’autres artefacts induits par les technologies numériques. Qu’il s’agisse de désintermédiation ou d’accélération temporelle, ces usagers attirés par le modèle a hiérarchique, se retrouvent à leur insu dans un processus de domination sociale. Nous soulignons les effets pernicieux liés à l’accélération temporelle particulièrement prégnante dans la génération d’étudiants observée. / This research is interested in the effects led by the digital devices plans of social sharing on the pratices of collaboration, communication and mediation of students in context of distance learning. The goal is the understand the origin of the collaborative process of collective apprenance which is illustrated in the communities of apprenticeship outside the academic institution. A netnographic observation is conducted whith Bachelor and Master's degree in a private training center ; our corpus is made of 1405 messages taken in the forums of the institutional platform and on Facebook or Google +. We assume the information and communication sociotechnical devices participate in the horizontalisation of student's practices. We highlight the paradox of these learning communities which are, unwittingly, in a process of social domination by having choosing a priori a decentralized structure

- / -

Les curriculums de sciences donnent aujourd’hui une place croissante aux démarches d’investigation, impliquant des professeurs de différentes disciplines scientifiques. La mise en œuvre de telles démarches suppose que les professeurs conçoivent des situations d’enseignement engageant les élèves dans l’élaboration d’hypothèses ou de conjectures.Nous articulons des approches épistémologique, didactique et ergonomique pour étudier les connaissances qui permettent à ces professeurs de concevoir de telles situations. Pour cette étude, nous faisons deux choix critiques : le choix du moment de la conception, en privilégiant celui de la préparation des situations ; le choix du contexte de conception, en privilégiant le cadre d’un collectif de professeurs de mathématiques, de sciences physiques et de sciences de la vie et de la Terre.Nous étudions les interactions à l’intérieur du collectif et leurs effets sur des évolutions des connaissances qui permettent la préparation des situations d’enseignement. Les interactions étudiées sont les interactions sociales entre les professeurs et les interactions entre les professeurs et les ressources partagées par le collectif.L’analyse de ces interactions met en évidence l’influence de deux leviers sur les évolutions des connaissances étudiées. Le premier est la conception de ressources spécifiques que nous appelons métaressources : les métaressources sont des ressources suscitant une posture réflexive sur l’activité à conduire ou sur ses effets. Le deuxième est la codisciplinarité comme forme de travail collectif. La codisciplinarité privilégie la coopération entre les disciplines, en respectant et en articulant les épistémologies de chacune d’entre elles / Sciences curricula give nowadays an increasing place to enquiry based learning methods involving teachers of different disciplines. The implementation of such approaches supposes that teachers develop teaching situations that engage students in a process of elaborating hypotheses and conjectures. We articulate epistemological, didactical and ergonomic approaches in order to study the knowledge that allows teachers to design such learning situations. We make two crucial choices in this study : the choice of the design period, focusing on the time of learning situations design; the choice of the design context, focusing on a collective of teachers in mathematics, physics and sciences of life and Earth.We study within this group the interactions between teachers and their consequences, in term of evolution of knowledge, that allows teaching situations to develop. The interactions that the study focuses on are social interactions between teachers and interactions between teachers and shared resources within the group. The analysis of these interactions show evidence about the influence of two levers that concern the evolution of studied knowledge. The first is the conception of specific resources that we call metaresources: metaresources are resources that lean to a reflexive position regarding the activity itself or its effects. The second is the concept of co-disciplinarity as a form of collective work. Co-disciplinarity favours cooperation between disciplines, keeping and articulating each particular epistemology

The study investigates the rise of online platforms that support teacher-to-teacher knowledge mobilisation. The adoption of the interpretative approach focuses the investigation on how the online platforms, their resources and the learning opportunities they provide are conceptualised by teachers in relation to their broader teaching practice, workplace culture and professional learning. The study is framed by two overarching research questions. (1) What is the nature of the knowledge being shared and reconstructed by teachers in Internet-mediated knowledge mobilisation? (2) What is the nature of the learning arising from teacher-to-teacher Internet-mediated knowledge mobilisation? The study employs a multiple case-study design to investigate two United States based online platforms, which facilitate teacher-to-teacher knowledge sharing. Twenty teachers from across the two cases were selected to participate in the study. A qualitative methodology was utilised. Teachers participated in an individual, face-to-face interview. In the two months following the initial interview teachers completed a weekly journal log detailing their engagement with the platform. Upon the completion of their journal logs, teachers participated in a follow-up interview via Skype. To help to contextualise the individual teachers within the broader case and to enrich their personal stories, observations of the platforms occurred throughout the data collection period. The study proposes a new theoretical model for how to conceptualise Internet-mediated knowledge mobilisation, the knowledge that is produced and the learning that occurs through the reconstruction process. It emphasises the connection between offline and online contexts and the role the platforms play in breaking down the boundaries between teachers' school-based practice and online resources and learning opportunities. The framework encapsulates the combining of the individual and their contexts of action, together with the platform and the information and knowledge it contains, to determine and shape the operation of the knowledge reconstruction process and the learning that transpires. Internet-mediated knowledge mobilisation facilitates the development of teachers' personal, practical knowledge by providing insight into the instructional practice of teachers and exposing teachers to new ideas and perspectives, which support the expansion of their propositional structures and episodic knowledge. Access to relevant, teacher-created materials increases the efficiency and effectiveness with which teachers can undertake elements of their practice, while also promoting learning through participation in work-based tasks. Individualism emerges as the dominant mode of engagement and learning in the study, with individual teachers regulating not only how and when they engage but also determining the outcomes they construct from their actions. The Internet, as a knowledge mediator, opens up new possibilities that are not available in teachers' offline contexts. It not only breaks down boundaries between teachers, but it also collapses boundaries between the various settings of teachers' professional practice and learning, effectively merging the offline and online contexts of teachers' work. The dual contexts of the platforms offer specific affordances that help to shape teachers' engagement, while also acting to promote new learning processes that do not exist in offline knowledge mobilisation.

This research seeks to understand the perceptions of professionalism in education. In particular it focuses on the constructions of the space for professional action. A case study focuses on people, including teachers and non-teachers, who work in a special school for young people with SEBD. The perceptions of professionalism in education held by those in this case have been carefully listened to and analysed. Using an interpretive approach I have analysed data from interviews of members of the case. This reveals that a common language is used to describe professionalism but this is not commonly defined. There is an assumption that all share a common definition. In addition, other factors affect professional action. The experiences and life trajectories of the respondents are seen to colour and shape professional action. The construction of the space for professional action is problematic. There is a wide range of definition. The findings reveal that professionalism is complex and common language hides a wide spectrum of definition and meaning. Professionalism, as a concept, is often confused and misused. Foregrounding these confusions have contributed to the understanding of professionalism. There is tension between the constructions of professionalism. The person trying to enact professionalism in education has to interpret, sometimes incongruent, discourses and locate themselves within persuasive discourses. Awareness of these differences and tensions can help understand and allow them to make their own choices. The development of typologies as an analysis tool has been effective in understanding the space for professional action in this case. It is suggested that this might be used as a basis for professional discussion for others who are engaging in development in their own context. Professionalism in education is important as this impacts on the performance of each person and this performance effects the young people. It is argued that people trying to enact it should engage in professional discussion and agreement making to establish what is good and worthwhile in professionalism.

L'éducation interculturelle dans la formation des enseignants ne se limite pas à l'idée de la tolérance et de l'acceptation de l'autre. elle comporte trois principes cohérents : l'éveil et le renforcement de la réflexion critique chez l'enseignant, son intérêt et sa flexibilité à gérer des innovations dans l'éducation, la construction d'une conception plus globale et d'une gestion plus efficace de la complexité sociale et humaine. notre travail présente une recherche-action qui a duré deux ans et qui a visé à la formation (longue durée) des enseignants grecs. elle s'est basée sur l'hypothèse générale que l'éveil aux langues est susceptible de créer chez les enseignants des savoirs, des attitudes et des aptitudes qui leur permettent de mieux valoriser le capital linguistique et culturel de leurs élèves ainsi que de leur donner un ensemble de pratiques et une typologie de compétences qui leur permettraient de faire des choses avec les langues dans tous les domaines disciplinaires. de plus nous considérons qu'une formation de type recherche-action sur l'innovation éveil aux langues est susceptible d'aider les enseignants à mieux valoriser le capital linguistique et culturel de leurs élèves, à développer l'interculturalité sous ses divers aspects dans leurs pratiques éducatives ainsi que de mener à bien une éducation langagière en fonction des besoins et des capacités de petits locuteurs de langues variées et sur le plan d'une sensibilisation systématique aux compétences métalinguistiques, métacognitives et interculturelles. / Intercultural Training in teacher education is not limited to the idea of tolerance and acceptance of others. It consists of three integrated principles: the awakening and strengthening of critical thinking among the teacher, his interest in the implementation of educational innovation and the ability to build a more holistic view and more effective management of human and social complexity. Our work presents an action-research project that lasted two years and was aimed at training (long-term) of the Greek teachers. The final sample who participated in our research is 10 persons, all early childhood, primary and high school teachers who are working in multilingual classes. The training model called "Evolutionary training model" is based on the general assumption that the innovation of the Awakening to Languages, when en-golfed by teachers education, may create among teachers knowledge, attitudes and skills that enable them to make better use of the linguistic and cultural capital of their students and provide them a set of practices and a typology of skills that can facilitate them to work with languages throughout the curriculum. To test our hypothesis we chose a triangular approach. Research tools in part have been developed by us, in part from comparable research. These are two types of questionnaires, group interviews recorded and transcribed. In addition, we have based on our own observations as well as the experiment conducted by teachers in multilingual early childhood and primary school classes. In our participatory and action-oriented training, a second set of assumptions has emerged : our long group discussions, individual interviews, our observations have led us to ask whether a dynamic and systemic approach to the type of action-research training, as has been the training at the Awakening Languages, may create the necessary conditions, intra psychic and intra groupal so that the teachers develop a reflexive attitude towards their own, representations, manage their own social and professional problems in a dynamic way and stop feeling professional isolation. The main conclusion is that before talking about an effective intercultural education, we need to modify some elements in the socio-professional and personal identity of the teachers because the innovation of Awakening to Languages can help teachers realize their own representations of linguistic and cultural diversity in the classroorn, as well as their teaching practices and renegotiate with them.

Dans le cadre de notre thèse en didactique des mathématiques, nous explorons la pertinence du récit en tant que mode de pensée et support potentiel à la construction de raisonnement. Nous soutenons l'hypothèse que lors d'une activité de résolution de problèmes de mathématiques, la construction d'un récit visant à répondre à une situation problématique peut être un élément déclencheur, producteur et structurant du raisonnement. En nous appuyant sur différents travaux qui ont souligné les fonctions heuristiques et structurantes du récit, nous avons caractérisé au plan théorique et mis à l'épreuve expérimentalement un milieu didactique permettant d'envisager une co-construction entre récit et raisonnement. La situation de résolution de problèmes que nous proposons, construite autour d'un jeu, amène les élèves à produire des récits descriptifs (basés sur des parties effectivement réalisées) et des récits d'anticipation (basés sur des parties imaginaires). Nos résultats mettent en évidence que le récit enrichit le milieu didactique au sens proposé par Hersant (2010), en particulier au travers de l'acte de construction par les élèves. Celui-ci soutient l'établissement du raisonnement et sa justification mathématique. C'est en produisant différents types de récits que les élèves, tout en prenant en charge les contraintes mathématiques de la situation, s'affranchissent du monde sensible et s'engagent dans une véritable activité de preuve mathématique (production d'exemples, de contre-exemples, de conjectures, d'argumentations, etc.) / Our thesis in mathematics education explores the relevance of story building as a pattern of thought and potential support for the construction of reasoning. We assume that establishing a narrative in order to answer a problematic situation is both a trigger and processing aid. Our main hypothesis is that the narrative act offers structured guidelines for the process of reasoning during problem solving activity. Several studies have indeed highlighted the heuristics and structuring functions of narrative. Relying on these studies we first characterized theoretically and then tested experimentally a didactical environment. We shaped the characteristics of this environment with the objective of ensuring a joint development between narrative and reasoning. The situation of problem solving we offer is built around a game. To address problematic situations, students produced descriptive (based on games actually made) and anticipated (based on imaginary games) narratives. In both case, the construction of a narrative is a powerful asset. Our results demonstrate that the story enriches, within the meaning of Hersant (2010), the educational environment. The act of narration supports the student’s mathematical reasoning and justification. While producing different types of stories, students embrace the mathematical constraints of the situations and step back from the sensible world. No more restrained by material thinking, the students are more inclined to mathematical approach. Therefore, they develop or enhance their mathematical proving skills (example and counter-example arguments, mathematical conjectures and demonstrations, etc.)

Notre recherche en didactique des sciences, explore la potentialité des objets scientifiques contemporains à devenir des objets de patrimoine à travers un cas d'étude : l'accélérateur de particules Cockcroft-Walton (CW). Nous faisons l'hypothèse que la valorisation des objets scientifiques contemporains, étape importante du processus de patrimonialisation, est spécifique et nécessite une expertise particulière. Notre travail a été réalisé grâce au dispositif CIFRE, nous permettant de travailler aux côtés du musée des Confluences à Lyon, qui expose un accélérateur de particules CW dans Sociétés : le théâtre des hommes. L'Institut de Physique Nucléaire de Lyon (IPNL) possède également un appareil de ce type, qui est aujourd'hui au cœur d'un projet de valorisation. Notre analyse s'appuie sur une étude du contexte, historique, épistémologique et social, de « naissance » du premier accélérateur CW et d'une étude scientifique de l'objet. Nous avons également mené deux enquêtes, la première visant à retracer la trajectoire de l'accélérateur CW à Lyon, la seconde à retrouver l'ensemble des accélérateurs CW dans le monde. En nous appuyant sur différents travaux qui ont souligné les étapes du processus de patrimonialisation, nous avons caractérisé les spécificités du patrimoine scientifique contemporain, et recherché les traces laissées par ces caractéristiques dans la mise en exposition de l'objet. Nos résultats mettent en évidence le manque d'informations permettant l'interprétation et l'appropriation de l'accélérateur CW par un public, et nous invitent à interroger le contenu représentationnel de l'objet, véhiculé à travers d'autres contextes d'utilisation, formel ou fictionnel / Our thesis in science education explore the potentiality of contemporary scientific objects to become objects of heritage through a study case: the Cockcroft-Walton particle accelerator (CW). We call it “patrimonialisation” (the making of heritage) according to Information and Communication Sciences. We assume that the value of contemporary scientific objects, an important stage of the patrimonialisation, is specific and requires a particular expertise. Our work was realized thanks to a french financing facility, allowing us to work with Le musée des Confluences in Lyon (France), which exposes a particle accelerator CW in Societies: the human theater. The Institute of Lyon Nuclear physics (IPNL) also possesses a device of this type, who is the focus of a recognition project. sing a multidisciplinary approach, our analysis begin with a study of historical, epistemological, social and scientific context, of the first one CW. We also led two inquiries, the first one to redraw the accelerator CW trajectory in Lyon, the second to find all the accelerators CW in the world. Several studies have indeed highlighted the stages of the patrimonialisation. Relying on these studies we characterized the specificities of the contemporary scientific heritage, and looked for tracks left by these characteristics in the exhibition text (museography). Our results demonstrate the lack of information allowing the interpretation (lecture) and the appropriation of the accelerator CW by a public, and invite us to question the representational contents of the object, conveyed through other contexts of use, formal or fictional