Troubles of one neophyte researcher in getting qualitative research on parthneships in a daycare setting with disadvantaged toddlers

This study is about the troubles encountered by one researcher in getting qualitative research on partnerships between families, in disadvantaged situations and educators in toddler day care settings and how they affect the quality of care as perceived by parents and educators. The study focuses on the conflicts and tensions as perceived by families and educators. A secondary goal of the study is to develop a greater understanding of how day care training programs might incorporate the findings to prepare day care educators to work with families in disadvantaged circumstances. The study is done through a qualitative lens using an ecological framework. The study spans a three month period and is set up in a non-profit, parent-controlled day care center. Detailed 'narratives of experience' are constructed from the participants' reflections on the events. Three main barriers or conflicts have emerged from the study. They are time, fear and a difference in perceptions between the families and the educators. The thesis concludes with advice to researchers who may be contemplating setting up a similar study and some suggestions are proposed for day care training programs. These suggestions include reflections of the researcher and how she implemented changes in her own teaching.

Le rapport au travail en collaboration du personnel enseignant d'écoles secondaires du Québec

Cette recherche a pour but de connaitre le rapport au travail en collaboration du personnel enseignant d'écoles secondaires du Québec. Ce rapport comporte deux dimensions, à savoir les représentations dont les dispositions à collaborer et les pratiques de collaboration. La recension des écrits soulève quatre types d'éléments qui sont mis en cause dans le travail en collaboration chez le personnel enseignant : des facteurs de contexte, entre autres, la réforme de l'éducation au Québec (1997-1998), les représentations du personnel enseignant au regard du travail en collaboration, des représentations au regard des pratiques d'enseignement, l'identité professionnelle des enseignantes et enseignants. Sur le plan méthodologique, cette étude s'inscrit dans le paradigme compréhensif, interprétatif. La cueillette des informations, par entrevues semi-structurées, a été réalisée auprès de trente-cinq enseignantes et enseignants issus de trois écoles de tailles différentes en 2006 et en 2007. Les résultats révèlent qu'une forte proportion du personnel interrogé montre des dispositions positives ou plutôt positives à la collaboration. Par ailleurs, un peu plus des trois quarts des participantes et participants ont des pratiques de collaboration très développées ou développées. Quant au rapport à la collaboration, une majorité des participantes et participants présente un rapport positif ou plutôt positif. Les résultats de notre recherche ont permis d'identifier quatre types de collaboratrices et de collaborateurs : la personne solitaire et individualiste, la collaboratrice ou le collaborateur occasionnel, la collaboratrice ou le collaborateur sélectif, la collaboratrice ou le collaborateur engagé. Plusieurs facteurs conditionnent le travail en collaboration et ils se regroupent en quatre catégories : les facteurs personnels, la relation, la production, la dimension organisationnelle et contextuelle. Les résultats de cette recherche contribuent à mieux connaître le rapport au travail en collaboration du personnel enseignant ainsi que ce qui influence la dynamique de collaboration.

L'appropriation d'un dispositif hybride en formation pour adultes le cas du Campus numérique à l'ESSCA

This thesis focuses on the study of setting up a system of innovative distance learning and its appropriation by the involved actors. The researcher tries to understand or to explain the ownership of an innovative educational context, both from a technology and pedagogy, through the mobilization of the actors of the system, and specifically their dynamic capacities. The aim of this research is to clarify the components of such a mobilization, and develop an explanatory model that values the dynamic capacity of actors, and mainly their absorptive capacities. The research strategy is a process case study research: the appropriation by the actors of the ESSCA (École Supérieure des Faculté des sciences Commerciales d'Angers, France), and by the institution itself, of a training distance learning device. The study is located in a interpretative paradigm. Qualitative data were collected since the beginning of the process, ie since 2001. First, the analysis of the appropriation process reveals a pattern of conditions that will allow the recruitment of actors, and promote ownership. The results highlight the crucial role of a common language for all from a structured approach to translation, the need to promote collaboration operations, and given the fundamental motivation for both individual and institutional. Next, the analysis of the appropriation process highlights a procedural model of the absorptive capacity of the institution and its actors. To estimate the value of new knowledge, the actors will be based on prior knowledge from the external domain or from the institution. Feeding their motivation, they will acquire new knowledge to assimilate and transform in the laboratory and prototype stages. The project stage will see the capacity of actors to use this knowledge to generate new knowledge for transfer to other training programs.