AQPC

Author :
Susan KERWIN-BOUDREAU, teacher - Champlain Regional College -St. Lambert

This article deals with a study on professional development and reflection in higher learning. The author begins by establishing the main contextual elements, notably the obvious links between the quality of teaching and learning, as well as the fact that teachers’ concept of pedagogy and learning acts as a filter in their decision-making process. She then provides an overview of the Master Teacher Program, the English equivalent of PERFORMA’s second cycle program. The participants in the research, whose results are presented in this article, are part of this program. Results are presented metaphorically (awakening, stretching, training and shaping up) and through extracts from accounts indicating that participants modified their concepts after completing the first four courses of the program: their focus moving away from teaching and the content to be transmitted in favour of making students the focal point. This change shows up in three major areas: an increased awareness for the learner and the learning process; an intentional focus on harmonizing the curriculum; and a greater self-understanding. On this last point, it is interesting to note that participants’ identity as experts in a discipline was further developed to include an expertise in pedagogy.

Download the complete article [PDF 7 pages, 372 kb]