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The Observatoire’ programming is structured around four axes that each deal with teaching as well as research on training and vocational education teacher training. These four interdependent axes aim to allow for the development, transfer, and improvement of knowledge and practices that are coherent with the Observatoire’s mission.
1
—With this axis, the focus is on students engaged in the process of learning a trade, on the stakeholders who gravitate around them and the ways which they support the learning of trades.
2
—This axis deals with the observation, documentation, modelling of and research into teaching practices in vocational education and vocational education teacher training, in various environments using varied modes and modalities.
3
—This axis aims to provide practical and theoretical points of reference for the management of school organisations and the legislative and regulatory framework of the teaching profession.
4
—This axis deals with the various aspects of initial and ongoing training practices that are likely to support vocational education teachers’ professional development into various contexts.
The focus of this axis is on students engaged in learning a trade, the stakeholders (teachers, academic advisors, management personnel, other educational resource people, business partners, parents) who gravitate around them and the ways in which they support and promote learning and scholastic success. Among its other goals, it aims to review and document practices, the development of resources supporting student learning and research into the issues related to such learning. Thus the following non-exhaustive list of themes might be addressed: students entering the profession and building their professional identity, collaborative environments, professional didactics, employability, school-business partnerships, suitability of the training vis-à-vis the job market.
This axis focuses on observation, documentation, modelling, and research of teaching practices for vocational training and vocational education teacher training. These practices are leveraged in various training and practicum environments (classroom, workshop, job sites, businesses, workplaces, etc.), according to the teaching modalities (traditional, work-study programmes, enhanced practicums, digital learning environments) and various organisation modes (traditional, individualised, distance). Here are just a few of the themes within the realm of this axis: practical knowledge, analysis of practices, appropriation and reading of programmes, inclusion of recent immigrant learners, workplace health and safety, integration of digital technology, teaching modalities, teaching contexts, evaluation, classroom management, etc.
The aim of this axis is to provide practical and theoretical points of reference for the management of school organisations and the legislative and regulatory frameworks of the teaching profession in vocational education. The following themes are examples of what might be addressed by this axis: recruitment of new teachers and their integration to the workplace, access to the teaching profession, management practices, coordination of stakeholder actions, organisation of services, public policy and legal frameworks, the conditions for exercising the profession and collective agreements, etc.
This axis deals with the various aspects of initial and ongoing training practices for vocational education teachers. Vocational education teachers must be able to count on quality training, whether they are in the process of completing their bachelor’s degree in vocational education at one of the five universities, have already graduated, or are taking graduate courses. This is a major issue for the quality of vocational education. This axis aims to explore, identify, and document training practices that are likely to support teachers’ professional development. Additionally, it plans on developing resources for initial and ongoing training and producing knowledge on various themes, such as training and teacher coaching practices and modalities, practical training, linking theory with practice, online training, professional development, professional teaching competencies, teachers’ professional identity, professionalization, etc.
