PROFESSIONAL INTEGRATION

Shared Practice PROFESSIONAL INTEGRATION THE COLLÈGE DE MAISONNEUVE EXPERIMENT* SILVIE LUSSIER Educational advisor CÉGEP de Maisonneuve KATIA -- TREMBLAY Educational -- advisor CÉGEP de Maisonneuve At the Collège de Maisonneuve, a report on regularsector faculty renewal shows that, between 2008 and 2014, 28% of the teaching staff will have left the Collège and, in some departments, the figure will be more than 56% (Collège de Maisonneuve, 2008). It goes without saying that, at Maisonneuve, as throughout the college system, there is every reason to consider the importance of ensuring the integration of the next generation of teachers. In the early 1990s, the college began looking for a formula that would allow novice teachers to familiarize themselves with the profession as practised in the college community in general, and at and the Collège de Maisonneuve in particular. On the basis of the deliberations of a sub-committee of its academic council, the college identified the following targets: integration into Maisonneuve, into the department, and into the teaching profession. Over the years, different means have been implemented to promote integration and professional development for novice teachers: a documentation centre, mentoring, advice on teaching, credit and non-credit courses, and the support of educational advisors. This article discusses the very latest professional-integration experiment at the college: the Enseigner à Maisonneuve, une introduction [Teaching at Maisonneuve: An Introduction] program. teaching at maisonneuve: an introduction In the fall of 2010, the college decided to emphasize recruitment and support for novice teachers, making mandatory indepth training to introduce these new arrivals- to the college environment, to Maisonneuve in particular, and to all types of educational resources. Once the following term began, the Teaching at Maisonneuve: An Introduction program was offered to an initial cohort of ten teachers from seven different disciplines. The program was the result of a joint project involving the academic dean, educational advisors, teachers, and the professional-integration sub-committee. program description The program consists of an introduction to the teaching context at the Collège de Maisonneuve (structures, policies, etc.) and the main teaching duties with respect to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of learning. In addition to giving novice teachers the documentation required to help them carry out their roles and responsibilities, the goal of the program is to help new teachers explore and take ownership of their role. The accent is on practical issues and guidelines. The topics dealt with are based on the competency profile of college teachers (Laliberté and Dorais, 1999) as well as the document entitled Enseigner au college...portrait de la profession (Comité paritaire, 2008). The program is intended for teachers who are beginning their first teaching sessions and have less than three years of college-level experience. According to Lauzon (2002), in the first term, novice teachers focus on the skills students must develop and on course planning; concerns of a pedagogical nature and awareness of the challenges posed by the profession come to the fore later. As a result, the invitation to enroll in the program is sent out to teachers with at least one term of experience. The unique feature of this activity is that teachers can receive release time of 0.1 full-time equivalent (FTE). From the outset, the college made the choice to invest in training for new teaching staff, and in order to ensure project sustainability, the administration and the union agreed to take the necessary release time from wage funding. Participants are also given three hours a week to attend weekly meetings. While the Teaching at Maisonneuve: An Introduction program is based largely on activities that had already been offered at the college, it focuses more on classroom management and incorporates a new theme: the educational context at Maisonneuve (including information and communications technologies ICT)). The 45 hours of training are divided into five units (Table 1). * The authors would like to thank Danielle-Claude Bélanger, Camil Cyr, and Laurent Choquette for their invaluable contributions to this article. summer 2013 vol. 26, n o 4 pédagogie collégiale 1

TABLEAU 1 unit 1 6 hours unit 2 unit 3 unit 4 unit5 3 hours THE FIVE UNITS OF THE TEACHING AT MAISONNEUVE: AN INTRODUCTION TRAINING PROGRAM Relationship with students/classroom management Getting to know the college community in general and Maisonneuve in particular Instructional strategies Feedback and learning evaluation Professional development unit 1 Relationship with students/classroom management This unit, which introduces novice teachers to the importance of classroom management and their relationship with students in order to ensure a climate conducive to learning, explores the classroom contract, emerging student populations, and the importance of the first class. Participants become familiar with various instructional strategies and receive assistance in laying down rules. transfer. Students academic motivation helps teachers determine which classroom techniques to use. Educational planning takes up a large portion of the unit. After various models of micro-planning grids are introduced, participants are asked to try them out by planning a class; feedback on this exercise makes it possible to identify the advantages and limitations of this tool. Classroom observations by a senior colleague and an analysis of initial student feedback on the courses given by the novice teachers round out the unit s activities. unit 4 Feedback and learning evaluation This unit, which is centred on learning evaluation, covers evaluation and measurement principles from both a formative and a summative standpoint. Participants are introduced to planning the evaluation process, the development of tools that comply with college rules, and departmental practices. Other topics discussed include feedback, formative evaluation, tools that can lighten the burden of correction, the PIEA [institutional policy on evaluating student achievement], and evaluation-quality criteria. unit 5 Professional development At the end of the process, participants are encouraged to reflect on the overall dimensions of their practices and guided through the reflective process. The fifth unit includes a formative evaluation of their teaching via a student questionnaire, as well as individual follow-up with the educational advisor responsible. unit 2 Getting to know the college community in general and Maisonneuve in particular This unit involves college instruction generally, and the specifics of teaching at the Collège de Maisonneuve in particular. Novice teachers are introduced to teaching competencies and encouraged to read the documentation on the educational policies governing their curriculum and course. Issues such as teachers duties, student characteristics, departmental life, the program approach, and the skills-based approach are all covered. A meeting is also held on the technological environment and the college s computer resources, educational applications offered online, and college-system resources. unit 3 Instructional strategies The goal of this unit is to familiarize participants with a broad spectrum of instructional strategies that emphasize active, responsible student participation. By taking part in certain activities, novice teachers explore the ideas and principles used to design learning situations that promote integration and knowledge At the close of the 45-hour program, a friendly get-together for the participants, workshop leaders, and teachers invited to act as resources is organized. This gives everyone a chance to conduct a post-mortem, to discuss how they felt about the program, and to make suggestions. Participants are given a certificate by the college s Service de développement pédagogique [educational development office], which are distributed to mark the close of the program. a collaborative experience The resulting group plays a major role in the training, constituting a resource novice teachers can consult for assistance, to solve problems, and to benefit from mutual support. The formula s flexibility means that meetings are also a place for venting about teaching experiences, giving participants a chance to realize they are not alone in feeling stress and struggling with problems, and to mitigate their feelings of isolation. Such exchanges also provide solutions to a number of problems, and help novice teachers forge their professional identity. 2 pédagogie collégiale vol. 26, n o 4 summer 2013

Professional Integration and Knowledge Transfer DOSSIER With a few exceptions, meetings are headed up by an educational advisor and a teacher, this formula having already been tested during previous integration activities and greatly appreciated by all participants. The instructional strategies in question borrow primarily from the seminar format, in accordance with a transfer of expertise perspective. Teachers invited to the meetings discuss their teaching activities and strategies, share their material, and participate in group deliberations. Much of the documentation distributed consists of examples of the strategies and tools used by such veterans. Workshops of a more formal nature, assignments, and certain program-related tasks and deliberations make it possible to further explore the topics discussed. Theoretical syntheses of the topics explored, as well as excerpts from texts, are also briefly introduced. This corpus of reference documents, which is available on the program s Moodle site, is something participants can subsequently add to. the strength of knowledge transfer Transfer of expertise lies at the heart of the program. Over time, experienced teachers have developed a considerable base of knowledge, and the college feels it essential that it be made available for use in the integration of novices. The commitment of more senior teachers is a measure of the program s success, as they are usually best at what they do. Some colleges have chosen mentoring as a measurement of integration. This approach promotes the transfer of expertise between a more experienced teacher and one who is just starting out (Cantin and Lauzon, 2002). In the formula used at Maisonneuve, the group setting is where novice teachers are given an opportunity to profit from such expertise and continue in their chosen career by talking to their more experienced colleagues (many of whom have agreed, over the years, to share their skills). As graduates of technical, pre-university, or general-education programs, these individuals generously discuss their ideas, advice, and methods, which help their novice counterparts select the solutions that best suit their personality. Veterans respond positively to each invitation to participate, as they and other staff members share the conviction that a collaborative network is an asset and a measure of the success of professional integration. In addition to the advantage offered by these types of meetings in forging a professional identity and the acquisition of pedagogical competencies, the program also gives participants an opportunity to form bonds with teachers from other disciplines and enhances the feeling of belonging to the collectivity. However, no program can, by itself, meet all the needs of new teachers. The Collège de Maisonneuve s program is just one of the measures suggested by faculty, the departments, the teachers union, the administration, and various services to support novice teachers. Their integration into the department is just as important. The support and backup provided as part of departmental life, in particular as regards departmental rules, the values and habits of the team in place, and participation in the curricula, are vital. Participants are therefore encouraged, depending on the nature of the situation in question, to refer to their colleagues, as well as college authorities and services. the group setting is where novice teachers are given an opportunity to profit from such expertise and continue in their chosen career. participant satisfaction Once the program had been implemented, it was assessed in order to measure participant satisfaction, ensure that any needed corrections and adjustments were made, and allow a profile of teachers involved in the integration process to be established. At the end of each unit, participants were asked to complete a short online questionnaire in the Omnivox survey module. The first portion of the questionnaire was designed to collect general data (academic discipline, gender, years of experience teaching college courses, teacher training) and data on the teaching context (number of courses given during the session, course plans, and number of new plans). The questions below dealt with teacher perceptions of the program and instructional methods. The approximately forty program participants who have taken part in the program since its inception were generally satisfied, and would recommend each unit to other novice teachers. Participants were especially vocal in their praise of the educational support provided by the weekly meetings. The main comments on content involved the adoption of guidelines and the theoretical framework that improved their practices. Participants were particularly appreciative of classroom-management tools and teaching and evaluation strategies; many felt the observation of other teachers was also valuable. According to their remarks, the program met their expectations, as can be seen from the following comments on the strengths of each unit. - The following topics were extremely relevant: The Description of the Teaching Profession; An Overview of the College s Departments; and Teaching, a Difficult Task. (Unit 2) - I felt better equipped to take on the term. (Unit 1) summer 2013 vol. 26, n o 4 pédagogie collégiale 3

- We learn specific strategies to use in class. (Unit 1) - I m more familiar with the learning process. (Unit 3) - [The unit helped me] better understand the importance of formative evaluations. (Unit 4) Satisfaction with the program formula came up consistently in the comments, with most respondents stressing the importance of knowledge transfer and mutual discussions. Many participants acknowledged the availability of the experienced teachers who attended the meetings, as well as the quality of the discussions held, as reflected by the following comments: - Very interesting and relevant guest speakers who share specific experiences and enlighten all of us. - The opportunity to talk to more experienced teachers. - The quality of the guest speakers, the relevance of their expertise, and the knowledge they shared. The group of teachers from different backgrounds also played a significant role. Group interactions facilitate the exploration of new methods, make it possible to take time to reflect on practices, and constitute a problem-solving circle among colleagues. Many comments on the strengths of this component emphasized the benefits of group interaction and the teacher-educational advisor combination. - As the formula is geared toward discussion, we can all talk about our individual experiences. - The size of the group allows everyone to get involved. Various improvements have been made subsequent to comments received from participants. Extra time is now given to some of the more formal workshops in order to ensure that participants have truly integrated the theory involved (for example, on motivation and the learning cycle). Unit 1 now also comprises more activities that clearly outline the issues involved in classroom management and how do deal with special-needs students. A presentation on various socio-cultural aspects in multi-ethnic classes will also be added to this unit. In view of comments made, we felt it was essential, especially in Unit 2, to properly identify teachers needs and take account of the group composition (variety of experience or previous education) into account in selecting topics. With respect to Unit 4 Feedback and Learning Evaluation at the suggestion of participants, experienced teachers now discuss some of their evaluation tools. Lastly, the time spent on exchanges among participants is now better managed, giving everyone the chance to speak. The data collected over time will help us arrive at a more accurate depiction of teacher integration at Maisonneuve, especially as concerns participation rate, participant origin, participant profile (years of experience, teacher training), and the factors that facilitate the integration process. conclusion The professional integration of novice teachers is without question a responsibility that represents a considerable challenge for the province s CÉGEPs. Given the stakes involved in familiarizing these teachers with their institution and the profession, the Collège de Maisonneuve met this challenge by creating an environment that allows teachers to integrate into their new academic communities, bolsters their professional competencies, and ensures they receive the support they need. Today, the Collège de Maisonneuve uses a formula that offers both the transfer of knowledge initially emphasized and formal pedagogical training that, by lessening teachers workload, ensures the participation of all new academic staff. Based on guidelines related to the professional competencies to be developed, and taking account of all characteristics inherent in the profession, this formula is the most complete tested by the college to date. By offering a program headed up by instructors from the college milieu, the college is anticipating benefits both for itself as well as for novice teachers, who form part of a community of practice, enhance their knowledge of the resources available, improve the quality of their teaching, and contribute more to college life. The college benefits from better staff integration and teachers who are better trained in pedagogy, thus promoting student success. Now that four cohorts of participants have gone through the process, certain questions still remain. Will the same number of teachers continue to be hired? Should training frequency be decreased? Will the increased number of novice teachers having taken courses in pedagogy (before coming to Maisonneuve) make certain topics less relevant? Will the program be as important in future professional-integration policies? Follow-up conducted with coordinators of the departments concerned, as well as with participating teachers and their students, will help us quantify satisfaction with the program 4 pédagogie collégiale vol. 26, n o 4 summer 2013

Professional Integration and Knowledge Transfer DOSSIER in relation to its objectives i.e., does it actually promote the integration of new teachers into the college and their particular departments, and does it provide the desired level of pedagogical basics? Although data are not yet available allowing for a precise analysis of the situation at Maisonneuve, some observations may still be made. First, it would seem incontestable that involving staff such as workshop leaders and resource people in the program is in itself a measurement of success; moreover, reflection, discussions, and the exchange of practices within a group of new teachers from different backgrounds constitutes the strength of this formula. Second, the involvement of the academic dean and the teachers union in program promotion is also vital to its success. And finally, this supportive environment is undoubtedly conducive to the mobilization and commitment of all stakeholders involved, which could play a pivotal role for novice teachers in the pursuing their career. An educational advisor at the Collège de Maisonneuve, Silvie LUSSIER previously taught delinquency-intervention techniques and police technology for ten years. With a master s in college teaching, she is interested especially in attitude assessment and providing academic staff with teaching support. As the college s local PERFORMA representative, she is responsible for the intake and training of new teachers. slussier@cmaisonneuve.qc.ca Also an educational advisor at the Collège de Maisonneuve, Katia TREMBLAY previously taught in the college s museum-techniques program, and is involved with UQAM s post-secondary teaching program. Her duties at the college include providing support for teachers, training new teachers, and conducting research. katia.tremblay@cmaisonneuve.qc.ca In short, the Teaching at Maisonneuve: An Introduction program has proven advantageous. The research on professional integration indicates that educators who are effectively integrated feel, not only equipped to carry out their duties, but also unconditionally accepted as members of their departments and institutions. As we saw from the evaluation questionnaire, the overall perception of these three factors by new recruits has changed for the better. references CANTIN, A. and M. LAUZON. Expériences de mentorat au collégial. Recherche subventionnée par le Regroupement des collèges PERFORMA. Montreal: Collège de Maisonneuve, 2002. COLLÈGE DE MAISONNEUVE. Plan d aide à la réussite 2007-2011. Montreal: Collège de Maisonneuve, 2008. COMITÉ PARITAIRE. Enseigner au collégial Portrait de la profession. FNEEQ, FEEC, FAC, CPNC: 2008. COMITÉ SUR L INSERTION PROFESSIONNELLE. Rapport 2003-2004. Montreal: Collège de Maisonneuve, 2004. LALIBERTÉ, J. and S. DORAIS. Un profil de compétences du personnel enseignant du collégial. Sherbrooke: Collection PERFORMA, Éditions du CRP, 1999. LAUZON, M. L apprentissage de l enseignement au collégial : une construction personnelle et sociale. Rapport de recherche PAREA. Montreal: Collège de Maisonneuve, 2002. Both the English- and French-language versions of this article have been published on the AQPC website with the financial support of the Quebec-Canada Entente for Minority Language Education. summer 2013 vol. 26, n o 4 pédagogie collégiale 5