Year 1 Results

The following information includes the results pertaining to each research question from Year 1 of the project. Research Question 4, comparing findings across the 4 pillars and across participating universities, is integrated into the results from each research question.

RQ1. What practices are currently in place in the FSL Teacher Education programs at participating Faculties of Education related to the four pillars for success?

Using the Four Pillars for Success model, we interviewed professors who teach in the Bachelor of Education programs at both universities to determine the current practices in place.

Table 1 provides an overview of the shared and unique practices found at each institution.

Below, we outline the shared and unique practices found in Table 1.

Table 1. shows the current practices across and within both universities in relation to the 4 pillars

Practices found across both universities

Professors at both universities reported encouraging FSL teacher candidates to reflect critically on course content related to each pillar. They also claimed to foster teacher candidates' self-awareness through direct reflection on their biases and experiences as language learners' themselves.

Language Proficiency (LP)

Instill confidence: grounded in the belief that FSL teacher education should be offered in French as much as possible to instill confidence and boost teacher candidates' master and lifelong learning of French
Foster language awareness: reflecting on what they know/don't know in French, particular grammar/vocabulary they will use in the classroom
Encourage oral language development: valuing this above written skills, a primary need in the profession, speaking French in courses should be established, encouraged and monitored.

Intercultural Competence (IC)

Raise awareness of pluriculturalism in terms of:
- Equity and Inclusion: generally covered within their courses/lessons, the importance of EDI in FSL teaching practice
- Plurality of French language and culture: important for teacher candidates to understand there are multiple French languages and cultures in Canada and around the world, which are generally under pressure from hierarchization, "situated learning" starts in your French context, and expands from there.

Pedagogical Knowledge (PK)

Prioritize practical skills over theory: value teaching hands-on-skills such as lesson/unit planning, assessment, etc. Developing teacher candidates' "teaching toolbox" of strategies. Core courses should be offered in French.
Emphasize student-centred pedagogy: course content meeting teacher candidates' needs, and teaching them to adopt a student-centred pedagogy in their future classrooms

Collaborative Professionalism (CP)

Collaborate with peers: completing group work in class and discussing topics together helps teacher candidates prepare to become more collaborative teachers, providing opportunities to share best practices, co-teach mock lessons

Practices unique to the University of Ottawa

Intercultural Competence (IC)

Study of culture as object: content such as songs, films, food, and clothing, identified as being integrated into the context of different courses/lessons, teacher candidates are encouraged to attend workshops and conferences outside of the program

Pedagogical Knowledge (PK)

FSL teaching as cross-curricular: promoting connections between FSL teachers and teachers of other subjects to observe and/or plan complementary lessons, inviting guest speakers from other disciplines to encourage collaboration.

Collaborative Professionalism (CP)

Collaboration vs. cooperation : collaboration is defined as any task or group work involving a "divide and conquer" approach, versus cooperation which is defined as inquiry learning where teacher candidates work as a collective to dissect, analyze and solve a common problem.
Study of FSL/school workplace culture: collaboration is taught to teacher candidates as a tool they can bring with them as an FSL teacher who will need to work as a collective with other content teachers from other disciplines.

Practices unique to York University

Intercultural Competence (IC)

Study of culture as identity: embed intercultural competence into their program, synonymous with developing teacher candidates' critical literacy and diverse cultural identities, practices such as journal entries and reflections into the historical context of FSL in Ontario, risk of essentializing cultures, ownership of the label "francophone"

Pedagogical Knowledge (PK)

FSL teaching as advocacy: French teacher advocates for FSL programs in schools, thus advocacy is an additional skill that they hone in their program.

Collaborative Professionalism (CP)

Share best practices: collaboration is an opportunity for teacher candidates to share and exchange best practices

RQ2. What is the general entry profile of FSL teacher candidates in each FSL Teacher Education program related to these four pillars?

Survey items were divided into four pillars: Language Proficiency (LP), Intercultural Competence (IC), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) and Collaborative Professionalism (CP). Teacher Candidates were asked to complete a self-assessment and score themselves on several items related to each pillar.

Language Proficiency (LP)

A correlation matrix was run to see the relationship between the four pillars. All four pillars were significantly correlated with each other, indicating that there is a relationship between them. The strongest correlations were between

(1) pedagogical knowledge and intercultural competence
(2) pedagogical knowledge and language proficiency, and
(3) language proficiency and intercultural competence.

The relationships between collaborative professionalism and the other pillars were not as strong, but were still statistically significant.

Teacher candidates were asked to rate themselves on six language proficiency skills, based on the CEFR self-assessment criteria. Important findings include:

York University (Keele) rated themselves significantly lower than University of Ottawa and York University (Glendon)
York University (Glendon) students had the highest self-scores in reading and writing
University of Ottawa rated themselves the highest on listening, speaking, spoken interaction and mediation.

Intercultural Competence (IC)

This pillar was assessed using a 5-point Likert scale as well, from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree. The items were combined to form a composite.

Important findings include:

Overall, intercultural competence was the lowest-rated pillar across the three faculties.
Students who browsed the internet in French had higher levels of intercultural competence
Students who responded that they "benefit from working with other who question and/or challenge my ideas" had higher levels of intercultural competence

Pedagogical Knowledge (PK)

This pillar was assessed using a 5-point Likert scale as well, from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree. As with collaborative professionalism, the items were combined to form a composite.

The rankings from most confident to least confident are as follows:

Overall, students said they were most confident in their competence on instructional strategies (m = 4.3763)
Close behind were French language knowledge (m= 4.3116) and student engagement (m= 4.3170)
In the middle, classroom management (m= 4.1989) and second-language pedagogy (m= 4.0787)
The lowest category by far was French socio-linguistic knowledge (m= 3.7811)

There were no statistically significant differences for our overall composite score or the six sub-pillar composite scores for PK.

Collaborative professionalism (CP)

For this pillar, students were asked to assess themselves based on a 5-point Likert scale, from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Overall, this pillar was rated second-lowest.

We found that York University (Keele) assessed themselves significantly lower than both York University (Glendon) and Univeristy of Ottawa on this pillar. This is particularly salient since students at York University (Keele) were significantly higher in their belief in the value of mentors.

Furthermore, we asked students to rate their satisfaction with three different groups of colleagues in relation to collaborative professionalism. Teacher candidates said they were most satisfied with their university-based educators, followed by their school-based educators. They were the least satisfied with the collaborative professionalism with their fellow Bachelor of Education colleagues.

RQ3. What are the specific needs for better FSL teacher education in each participating Faculty of Education?

Needs identified across both universities

More contact for FSL teacher candidates with francophone students and the francophone community
1. - Most FSL teacher candidates are primarily FSL speakers, and professors noted their need to engage in communication in French for authentic purposes both in and outside of classes.
Developing critical praxis
1. - desire to develop critical praxis as a current that runs through FSL teacher candidate training. Courses tend to lean on theoretical aspects of teaching and learning, and teacher candidates are not always able to make the connection between theory and practice in their teaching placements.
More extracurricular workshops and activities geared specifically toward the needs of FSL teacher candidates
1. - the workshops could focus on more language and cultural learning opportunities, and developing pedagogical skills in French

Needs identified at the University of Ottawa

Specialized FSL cohort : would support a shift in understanding FSL as a cross-curricular approach to teaching and learning rather than an add-on to the English program

More courses taught in French: currently FSL teacher candidates only take 2 courses taught in French, but they would benefit from a more immersive environment.

Focus on preparation for workplace culture: not all school boards offer professional development learning opportunities, so the teacher education program needs to provide ways for teacher candidates to continue collaborating beyond the program

Needs identified at York University

Decolonizing FSL; anti-racist and anti-oppression lenses: in response to the diverse reality of students in today's classroom, and to critically contextualize the history of FSL in Canada and its role in supporting equitable practices in schools.

More opportunities for immersion: professors consider immersion experiences as crucial for teacher candidates' language proficiency.

Stand alone course on Assessment and evaluation: they have limited opportunities to practice and hone their assessment and evaluation skills, and this is a necessary skill.

Integrating historical context of French-language education and evolution of FSL programs: it's not mandated in course curricula, but it is important to understand the sociopolitical realities of teaching FSL.

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