A Different Approach to Training Elementary School Teachers
Since September 2018, the Faculty of Education (FDE) has been offering a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and Careers in Teaching, Education, and Training, which is available immediately after high school graduation at three of its five campuses: Nîmes, Carcassonne, and Montpellier. This marks a minor revolution in the training of future elementary school teachers.
Innovative, longer, and above all, more comprehensive. That, in a nutshell, is what the training program for elementary school teachers (preschool and elementary) offered by the UM’s Faculty of Education (FDE) has looked like since the start of the last academic year. “The initial training for future elementary school teachers takes place at the master’s level, following a bachelor’s degree that is often in a single discipline, and spans two years, with the first year entirely consumed by cramming for the competitive recruitment exam. This training, ultimately reduced to a single year of actual professional development, is clearly ill-suited to the reality of an increasingly complex profession at the start of the 21st century. In light of this, the University of Montpellier has therefore decided to revamp it! ” said Michel Ramos, the deputy director in charge of undergraduate studies at the FDE, who, along with Agnès Perrin-Doucey and Muriel Guedj, is responsible for coordinating the gradual rollout of the Bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and Professions in Teaching, Education, and Training, starting at the Nîmes and Carcassonne, and Montpellier, followed by Mende and Perpignan at the start of the next academic year.
Innovative training
“Developing critical thinking skills, communicating effectively, solving problems, and exercising creativity… Undergraduate students are now assessed based on a competency framework during three fast-paced, career-oriented years. This marks the first stage of the 1,500 hours of training that now precedes preparation for the competitive exam for elementary school teachers (CRPE), which remains part of the master’s program,” explains Jean-Paul Udave, who has headed the Faculty of Education for over five years now.
No lectures, small class sizes (40 to 50 students on average), an active role for students in the learning process, state-of-the-art audiovisual and digital equipment (Learning Lab), a strong emphasis on group work… The new bachelor’s program is designed as a true laboratory for innovative practices, whose “unconventional” format has garnered unanimous enthusiasm from the students of the 2018–2019 class. “Beyond passively acquiring knowledge, we learn here to think about our future profession. During history of education classes, for example, we explore not only how the status of schools has evolved over time but also the different philosophies of the educational system,” says Mathilde Grillon, a first-year bachelor’s student enrolled at the Montpellier campus.
Local presence
The Bachelor’s degree program in Interdisciplinary Studies and Careers in Teaching, Education, and Training will be offered at the Mende and Perpignan campuses starting in September 2019. This is an opportunity to reaffirm—if reaffirmation were needed—the university’s commitment to local roots, as it seeks to contribute, within its capacity, to the economic, social, and cultural development of medium-sized “balanced” cities ." The expansion of on-site vocational training programs allows young people from modest backgrounds to learn a trade without having to relocate—often at great expense—to major university cities. This is why, within a few weeks, it will be possible to access the full curriculum for training to become an elementary school teacher at all five FDE campuses. This will take place in small-scale settings that allow for personalized support for each student.
The FDE as seen by a student
Luana Guyon-Venet, 18, a freshman
The launch of the bachelor’s degree program in Interdisciplinary Studies and Careers in Teaching, Education, and Training at the Montpellier School of Economics allows me to start training for my future career right now, without having to wait to enter a master’s program and by bypassing the previously mandatory requirement of a single-discipline bachelor’s degree. I’m thrilled to be part of this first graduating class, where I’m surrounded by passionate students and faculty who, beyond imparting essential knowledge, teach us how to approach the profession of elementary school teacher—a calling that, it seems to me, was born in my 11th-grade classroom. My desire to become a teacher stems quite simply from my love for children and my passion for sharing knowledge.
The FDE by the Numbers
- 5 locations: Nîmes, Montpellier, Carcassonne, Mende, and Perpignan;
- 10 academic departments;
- 2,577 students;
- 150 undergraduate students at the start of the 2018 academic year.
"TAKE-OFF" Projects: MUSE Supports Educational Transformation
MUSE is currently funding three TAKE-OFF projects to support the FDE’s educational transformation: the first focuses on establishing Learning Labs across its five campuses; the second , the Bachelor’s Degree of Excellence (PULE), aims to develop innovative teaching practices; and the third, Designing a Training Program in University Pedagogy (CONFOR PU), seeks to promote the expansion of these practices throughout the entire university community.