McGill Journal of Education / Revue des sciences de l'éducation de McGill

Integrating task-based language teaching in the classroom: A task proposal for learners of French as an additional language in elementary school

Rachelle Dutil — 2025-07-03

Research in the field of task-based language teaching (TBLT) seeks to better understand how pedagogical tasks and their implementation contribute to the development of additional language (AL) competences. This Note from the Field, intended for teachers and future teachers, aims to define TBLT and to illustrate the concept of a pedagogical task. A didactic sequence designed for young learners of French as an AL will be proposed and can serve as a guide for the development of similar tasks.

The effects of developmental co-teaching on education trainees: A literature review

Mélissa Fortier — 2025-07-03

This article provides a systematic review of the literature on developmental co-teaching. Developmental co-teaching appears as an alternative practice to traditional internships wishing to better meet the current needs of the community. Developmental co-teaching involves two trainees teaching the same group of students or one trainee and the classroom teacher. The main results show that the two models of developmental co-teaching contribute to improving the initial training of trainees both during the internship and in the longer term in their professional practice. These contributions include, among other things, the development of a collaborative and reflective vision of the profession as well as the development of the professional identity of the learner, a vision that traditional internships cannot provide.

The question of identity dynamics in a voluntary professional reconversion process. The case of second career primary school teachers

Valérie Moinet — 2025-07-03

This article documents the process of voluntary professional reconversion to the profession of primary school teacher in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (Belgium). Using a qualitative research approach, we interviewed nine adults who attended an initial teacher education program for primary school teaching. Results show a close link between the identity tensions resulting from the previous or current career(s) and the identity project of becoming a primary school teacher. They also highlight the skills previously acquired in the private and professional spheres that contribute to a positive feeling of self-efficacy in the tasks specific to the desired profession. Finally, we provide practical recommendations for teacher education curriculum and the integration of these second-career teachers in the teaching profession.

Collaborative practices of special needs teachers working in high schools

Noémia Ruberto — 2025-07-03

High school differs from elementary school regarding the number of stakeholders involved with a single student. Thus, in high school, special needs teachers must work even more closely with these stakeholders to promote the educational success of as many students as possible. The aim of this article is to describe the collaborative practices of special needs teachers in high schools and to document the facilitators and obstacles to this collaboration. To this end, focus groups were conducted with 12 special needs teachers. The results show that special needs teachers play a pivotal role in collaboration. They support the school principal with inclusion issues, maintain communication with parents, and support teachers in meeting the diverse needs of their students.

Improvement of two training-support devices to implement programs for students with a specific reading and writing difficulty

Myriam Fontaine — 2025-07-03

This exploratory research presents the results of a test conducted on two training-support devices to implement programs helping students with a specific reading and writing difficulty identify and produce written words. The general device aims to implement various evidence-based practices, including validated programs, while the specific device aims to implement a program that integrates technological aids. The objective of this article is to describe what the participating remedial teachers report from their experience and observe as effects on student learning and professional development. Qualitative methods of data collection and analysis are used and conditions for improving the two devices are identified.

Practicing philosophical dialogue with adolescents: How to foster greater awareness of learning in students

Mathieu Gagnon — 2025-07-03

The practice of philosophical dialogue with young people is experiencing significant growth on an international level. Since this practice often takes place within a school context, where one of the main missions is to foster learning, it becomes valuable to conduct studies that document the learning outcomes of students, including their awareness of these outcomes. However, studies in this regard—particularly those comparing students’ awareness across different pedagogical approaches—are nonexistent. This article examines this issue, leading to the conclusion that the way learning sequences are structured may influence students’ perception of the learning they achieve in philosophy.

Determinants of pedagogical innovation in higher education: Initial exploration of factors for a varied and active pedagogy

Myriam Girouard-Gagné — 2025-07-03

A learner-centred approach involving active teaching methods seems to be encouraged in higher education to respond to the changing context. However, no quantitative study has been carried out to understand the factors determining varied and active teaching practices among professors, which this article proposes to do. Descriptive statistical analyses and a logistic regression were performed using data collected from 2968 Canadian university professors. It seems that professors who use a more varied pedagogy have had training in pedagogy, prefer teaching, work more hours per week, carry out formal self-evaluations of their teaching, or practice in the fields of natural sciences and health.

Adolescents’ and parents’ perceptions of parental monitoring as predictors of academic functioning at the end of high school

Guillaume Gagné-Legault — 2025-07-03

This article examines how parents’ and adolescents’ perceptions of parental solicitation and control can be used to predict academic achievement and engagement. Hierarchical regressions on 133 parent-child dyads (66% girls; mean age: 16.88 years) indicate that adolescents’ perceptions of parental control are significantly related to their academic engagement and achievement, in contrast to perceived solicitation, which is only marginally related to engagement. Parents’ perceptions of their monitoring strategies, however, do not predict adolescents’ academic functioning. Thus, it would be important to consider adolescents’ perceptions of parental monitoring in interventions aimed at improving academic functioning in high school students.

The Congolese school as a driver of peace? An analysis of the attitudes of secondary school teachers in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

Justin Sheria Nfundiko — 2025-07-03

Marked by decades of conflict, peace remains fragile in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly in the eastern Kivu provinces. Since schools constitute an appropriate environment to transform the persistent culture of violence, this article examines the attitudes of 1 642 secondary school teachers in Goma and Bukavu toward peace education. Regarding Civic and Moral Education (indirect peace education), teachers are optimistic, though the curriculum presents peace in an abstract manner. The acceptance of corporal punishment also remains concerning. Direct peace education addressing recent conflicts is more divisive: While most support it, teachers in Goma show reluctance because of persisting insecurity. When to introduce direct peace education, if ever, then becomes a central question.

Qualitative evaluation of a network mobilizing knowledge on equity in education: Possibilities and limitations

Jo Anni Joncas — 2025-07-03

This article explores the benefits of a knowledge mobilization network (KMN) on equity aimed at countering systemic barriers to learning for Ontario students. The impact of this KMN was initially analyzed quantitatively, leaving less room for the perception of the partners. Aiming for a more comprehensive picture, a qualitative analysis of ten interviews with partners helped to identify new impacts, especially the importance of relationships as a driving force of the network and as a central benefit of knowledge mobilization. This paper highlights the contribution of qualitative evaluation to assess the impact of KMN. Recommendations are made to promote qualitative evaluation and the impact of KMN in a context of diversity.

Psychological well-being of vocational training students during their transition to employment: The role of emotional competence and educational success

Sasha Voyer — 2025-07-03

The school-to-work transition presents several challenges for vocational training students in Quebec. While psychological well-being at work appears to be an important indicator of a successful transition from school to work, few studies have been conducted have been conducted on this topic with vocational training students. Emotional competence and educational success are closely related constructs that could contribute to psychological well-being after the end of students’ training. This two-phase study, conducted with 179 students, aimed to test the mediating role of educational success in the association between emotional competence and psychological well-being. Regression analyses support educational success as a mediator in this relationship. This study sheds light on the potential of interventions to strengthen students’ emotional competence.

Assessing French-speaking preschool children’s language skills: Comparing personal narrative with conversation during symbolic play

Marianne J. Paul — 2025-07-03

This article aims to explore language development abilities by comparing a personal narrative with a sample of 25 utterances extracted from a a conversation during symbolic play. From the 28 French-speaking unilingual children assessed at age 3, 19 were also assessed at age 4. Mean length of the utterance and lexical diversity of the language samples were calculated and the personal narrative structure was identified. The results show an impact of discourse on the sample’s characteristics. Statement mean length is statistically higher in narration at age 3 only. Despite the high variability of the narrative structure’s evolution, the use of personal narrative to assess language from age 3 is conceivable.

Potential effects of an arts and science interdisciplinary intervention on kindergarten children’s construction of scientific concepts

Édith Allard — 2025-07-03

Early on in their development, children develop representations of different phenomena to explain the world around them, which are often inadequate or incomplete. Early educational intervention would promote the understanding of concepts through an understudied approach for preschoolers: interdisciplinarity. Our qualitative study explores the effects of an arts and science interdisciplinary intervention on the construction of scientific concepts of 17 children in kindergarten, particularly in relation to light and associated phenomena. Data were collected using drawings and semi-structured pre-and post-intervention interviews, consisting of four one-hour interdisciplinary activities. Results tend to show that the intervention effectively promotes the construction of scientific concepts in the majority of participants.

The agency of pedagogical consultants in a networked community of practice

Michelle Deschênes — 2025-07-03

Pedagogical consultants (PCs) act as agents of change within their professional environments, actively pursuing their own development through engagement in communities of practice, particularly within inter-institutional networks. This article examines the exercise of agency among members of such a community, composed of PCs from various educational institutions. A qualitative analysis of interviews and community-related documents—both used and produced—reveals several commonalities across the cases. These include a collaborative dynamic grounded in both members’ professional culture and their institutional contexts, as well as a form of symmetrical proxy agency, whereby each member’s agency is supported and reinforced by the others. Instances of resistance were marginal, as the community was primarily oriented toward collaborative problem-solving and the pursuit of constructive solutions.

Éditorial

Kevin Péloquin — 2025-07-03

Editorial

Kevin Peloquin — 2025-07-03