Editorial

This issue features eleven articles, one MJE Forum and three Notes from the Field. A couple of the articles address current issues in teacher education, namely, effective forms of cooperating teacher mentorship of pre-service teachers (Parks); too, of how self-reflection through writing can impact pre-service teachers, with this study contributing to the conversation from the Belgian context (Deschepper & Colognesi). Several focus on the preschool milieu: the influence on young children’s pretend play of transmedia Disney princess marketing (Valade); of the quality of children’s interactions within daycares (Lachapelle & Lemay) and with one another during Covid (Bouchard, Parent, Leboeuf, Couttet & McKinnon-Côté). Covid is also the focus of a study of the effects of school closure on children with special needs (Giordano, Kathol, & Flanagan) and on the relationship between new immigrant families and schools in Quebec during the first wave of the pandemic (Morin & Audet). A series of articles focused on the Quebec context looks at: intensive English language teaching (Thibeault & Forget), French-language focused “reception classes” (Mamprin & Papazian-Zohrabian), and a tool to evaluate university students’ resistance to change (Loi Zedda, Frenette, Thibodeau & Forget). For their part, also in the Quebec context, Ahehehinnou and Anne turn to questions about the actual effects on parent governance of Bill 105, an Education Act amendment that granted greater power to parent commissioners.

In this issue, we also offer a MJE Forum conversation on, and useful introduction to, meditative inquiry via an interview with Ashwani Kumar, conducted by Bonnie Petersen. Ashwani Kumar’s name has become synonymous with the use of meditative inquiry, whether in research or in classroom teaching — or living one’s life.

Three Notes from the Field take up various issues, approaches or thought-provoking ideas: teacher perceptions of students with special needs (Di Placido), a neurolinguistic approach to second language education and exam preparation (Sgueglia), and thinking outside the box by turning to videos in teacher philosophy statements (Sharmin & Chow).

How can pre-service teachers be better supported by their cooperating teachers, who play a key role in mentoring them into the teaching profession? Using a narrative inquiry approach, Parks studied pre-service teachers at that time in their program when a transfer of power occurs. How can this transfer of power — this pas à deux, as Parks so deftly calls the interaction—happen successfully? Fifteen pre-service teachers in a teacher education program in Quebec participated in the focus group discussions. Among the most effective strategies identified was when cooperating teachers knew when to step forward, when to step back, so as to allow the mentored teachers to grow and develop, because it was really only when they were on their own in teaching students, that pre-service teachers were able to exercise teacher agency and autonomy.

Conducted in Belgium, Deschepper and Colognesi’s study focuses on the content and the evolution of the self-evaluation discourse of students in initial teacher education. The authors analyze the content of six students’ internship reports. The reports were written at the end of each of the three internships of their study programme. The results indicate three student profiles that the authors relate to Jorro’s (2005) reflexivity thresholds. Because students’ capacity to self-evaluate varied, Deschepper and Colognesi conclude with a call to improve the support offered to write reflexive texts.

The impact of transmedia Disney princess marketing on early childhood classrooms is the focus of a research study using a feminist and poststructuralist queer lens. Transmedia works across multiple media simultaneously: films, video games, books, and toys. This particular Disney marketing campaign promotes a collective image of girl power. How do young children take up gender and sexuality roles, especially that implied by the hyperfeminine Disney princess, in their pretend play? Valade conducted a study with 4-year-olds in two daycares/early childhood centres in Quebec. The results are nuanced in terms of the actual impact of the play, which also seemed to have the effect of opening up more inclusive gender diverse spaces. Of greatest concern, Valade concludes, is gender policing and heteronormativity in early childhood. So as to create a more equitable playing field, guidelines need to be developed so that young children can feel free to resist or embody character roles.

Lachapelle and Lemay were interested in how home childcare providers perceived quality interactions. They questioned 13 participants with semi-structured interviews, notably on the behaviour to adopt with children. Qualitative data were analyzed through a cultural lens and compared to the domains and dimensions of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System Trottineur, a standardized instrument designed to measure the quality of interactions in facility-based childcare services. The results show differences in how interactions experienced in the home and in the facility are perceived.

In their study on the relationships between six groups of children and their educators in early childhood centres during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bouchard, Parent, Leboeuf, Couttet, and McKinnon-Côté are interested in the quality of the interactions that took place outside in the natural environment near these centres. By observing outside interactions and interviewing educators, the authors conclude that the quality of the interactions taking place in the natural environment did not change during the pandemic. However, the wearing of masks inside the centres was an obstacle for the quality of interactions with the children.

Giordano, Kathol and Flanagan explored the changes in routine and the emotional themes experienced by families of children with learning differences or disabilities due to school closures during COVID-19 in Quebec, Canada. The authors found an overall concern regarding the social and emotional outcomes of long-term school closures. Family routines after the school closures included increased technology usage, lack of socialization, cease or decline of extracurriculars and therapies, and a decrease in mental wellness among school-aged children with learning differences and disabilities. In response, the authors suggest enhanced support services to mitigate the negative outcomes associated with long-term school closures.

In their study on the relationship between new immigrant families and schools during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, Morin and Audet conclude that school closures contributed to the erection of a barrier between educational institutions and immigrant families. This research was conducted with school-family-community agents dedicated to building relationships between schools, immigrant families, and community organizations. By focusing on the analysis of 12 practice stories collected from these agents, we can better understand the challenges encountered by these workers and the strategies used to forge links between families and the school.

Thibeault and Forget’s exploratory research brings us inside the co-teaching process of a textual genres writing sequence in an intensive Grade 6 English programme. Based on individual interviews conducted with a teacher and an English as a second language teacher, the authors present the teachers’ points of view on the parameters of the system explored, and the integration of languages in a co-teaching context.

How can a more welcoming culture be created in Quebec’s “reception classes”—classes intended to introduce newcomers to the French language but also to Quebec culture and society? These classes, promising academic and social integration, are open to learners of all ages in the elementary and secondary grades who are not fluent in French. Eight second-language teachers in Montreal participated in the qualitative study, which applied Bronfenbrenner’s and Morris’ PPCT (process, person, context, time) developmental model. Mamprin and Papazian-Zohrabian found (consistent with previous research) that a school within the school tended to develop. Greater efforts to connect reception class teachers and students with those in the ‘regular’ curriculum needs to occur, they advise, to avoid systemic gaps, which reinforce exclusion instead of promoting a welcoming culture.

In their article, Loi Zedda, Frenette, Thibodeau, and Forget present the steps they followed to adapt to the Quebec context a tool that measures the disposition of university students to resist change. After being translated and evaluated by experts and teachers, the tool was tested with two samples of students. The final version was submitted to 294 undergraduate students. By collecting this data and classifying it according to the four dimensions of the tool, the authors offer a portrait of the students’ disposition to resist change.

Since Bill 105, a 2016 Education Act amendment which granted to parent commissioners greater voting rights on various governing education councils, have these parent representatives noticed a difference, Ahehehinnou and Anne ask? Are their voices and perspectives being heard, thus influencing policy decisions? Thirteen participants, occupying various decision-making parental roles in two different school boards in the region of Quebec City, were interviewed. The impact of the bill varied from one school board to another, which the researchers attributed to differences in leadership and organizational culture. They conclude that though significant progress has been made in certain school boards, important gaps remain. A more participatory model of leadership, they suggest, would likely help redress these gaps.

We hope you enjoy and find value in reading these highly thoughtful studies!

TERESA STRONG-WILSON, CARL BEAUDOIN, KEVIN PÉLOQUIN,

CHANTAL TREMBLAY, & VANDER TAVARES