Mehrez Aounallah ELT Inspector Ben Arous Tunisia TESOL 2013

 Preparatory & secondary cycles  Primary cycle joining recently, but…  Vocational training?  No CPD for the tertiary cycle!!!

 Trainer-centered  Teachers follow the expert’s instructions  Teaching the textbook  Mainly based in training centers (CREFOCs)  Not usually based on analysis of teachers’ needs/ school needs.  Little or no concern about the context

 Basic training for novice teachers  Training day (journée pédagogique)  Demonstration lessons  Workshops  Seminars (international experts)  Magazines (Forum, Crossroads)

 Changing practices/ Hands-on (workshops/ micro-teaching)  More teacher-centered  Innovation & initiative  By teachers  Civil society / Teacher associations  Internet (FB groups, blogs, journals, websites, etc.)

 Reflective practice (done more systematically)  Peer observation?  Teacher portfolio?  Peer teaching?  Action researches

A specific example: Project Work: a strategy to develop the spirit of inquiry within schools

 Plagiarism  Little or no follow-up by teachers  Lack of training on the topic  Little or no learning: (evidenced by a field research conducted in different areas in Tunisia)

 Theoretical background  Groups of teachers (same school) decide on a topic: relevant to them and their students.  Each group plan to implement their research/ inquiry according to a negotiated schedule

 Field work: task division, data collection tools, collecting data, etc.  Workshops: data analysis, drawing conclusions [work supervised/ checked by « inspector »]  Exchange/ questionnaires, interviews, etc.

 Setting up an evaluation panel: evaluation grid  Group presentations  All teachers’ efforts valued  Friendly gathering  Evaluation of all the stages  « When is our next project? »

 Strengths:  Motivation is contagious  We have potential!  More computer-literate teachers  Easy access to information and knowledge

 Team work/ collaboration valued  Collaborative work: Such a challenge!  Experience what the students experience  Better handling of PW with their students

 Weaknesses: future focus areas  Data collection tools: interviews and questionnaires:  Data analysis : Academics, please help!  Lack of presentation skills: It’s NOT like teaching!

 Opportunities:  Teachers as researchers  Publishing researches?  There’s much more to internet than FB!  Teacher autonomy?

 Threats:  Deficient teachers’ background knowledge  Risk of resistance  Inspectors may become a thing of the past ……

 Evolving  Hands-on  Relevant to teachers’ needs  Field work/ in schools  Done by teachers  Fosters reflective practice &teacher autonomy

 A solid knowledge basis  Basic formal training, yet hands-on  Openness to new trends  Creativeness  Adaptability  Professionalism  Teacher community  The love of the profession

Teachers cannot be developed (passively). They develop (actively). It is vital, therefore, that they are centrally involved in decisions concerning the direction and processes of their own learning (Day 1999: 2)

 Professional Development: Rewards and Challenges, Hammamet, February 2013: Professor Simon Borg, University of Leeds/  L’apport de la pédagogie de projet dans l’apprentissage de l’anglais au cycle secondaire (Fatma Guerfel, Mehrez Aounallah and Naima Charfi, CENAFFE 2010)

Thank you!