The presentation will discuss the initial outcomes of an assessment of the effects of initiation to research courses on the professional development of primary school trainees, using gender equality as a specific example. In France, since a master’s degree is required to be a teacher, Faculty of education (“Ecoles Supérieures du Professorat et de l’Education” (ESPE)) provide specific instruction on preparing a final dissertation. Initiation to research modules offered include a wide range of objectives and content, within even one single high school (Grugeon-Allys, 2012). While the latest law (2013) and many reports about teacher training have asserted the importance of initiation to research, we agree with Delarue-Breton (2014) that the final objective of an initiation to research module should be to bridge the gap between the scientific approach and professional development. Hence, the final dissertation should be seen “both as scientific (for the type) and professional (for the topic)”. Initiation to research modules enable pre-service teachers to put their reflection in context in terms of current scientific trends and frameworks. More specifically, they require pre-service teachers to take a scientific approach by leading them through a structured process with planned phases, such as, reading to increase scientific knowledge of the topic, formulating a scientific query, organizing data collection and data analysis, and finally, dissertation writing. Obviously, the entire process demands considerable time and a strong interest in the topic.

Specifically on gender equality in education topics, previous outcomes found trainees’ perceptions of the content of the initiation modules were not always positive (Baurens & Schreiber, 2006; Fassa-Recrosio & al., 2014). Research in physical education context confirms this finding (Couchot-Schiex & al., 2009; Couchot-Schiex, 2018). Studies converge to assert that trainees do have difficulty integrating their knowledge into their teaching practices. Further, when they do integrate that knowledge, the practices seem to lack effectiveness. The analysis conducted by Lamamra & Posse (2014) show that even if transformations is occurring, micro-obstacles still remain.

A study underway examines the ways in which, two years research initiation courses help to transform trainees teaching practices. In ESPE de Créteil, students (first master degree year) and trainees (second master degree year) choose the educational topic they are interested in from a list of proposals such as gender education, didactics such as physical education including gender equality, or even mathematics. Some researchers involved in these topics are trying to gain a better understanding of how the content of initiation to research courses influences trainees’ approach to teaching practice. Does the course encourage trainees to adopt and use the concepts they are taught? Do the course enable trainees to utilize part of their scientific knowledge in their own classroom practices? Do the courses increase awareness of key didactic markers?

Fundamentally, an initiation to research course should act as a trigger to trainees to gain perspective and reflect on teaching, thus helping them to analyze the complexity of classroom situations better. In France, steps have been taken to create links between initiation to research and professional development because teacher training required trainees to spend half their time in the classroom and the other half time studying and following courses.

The assumption we made is that both conceptual and methodological tools presented in the initiation to research courses enable trainees to develop their reflection about the didactical process. When examining trainee perception of the initiation to research courses, the influence of the trainees’ own interest in the course content, the conditions and activities proposed, course usefulness in building professional skills and how far the courses facilitates the dissertation process should all be taken into account. Asking trainees about the positive or negative opinion they have on such courses, outcomes on didactics items the questioner they filled should be presented. 71 trainees filled out an online questioner half way through the courses in January. They are due to present their master’s dissertations at a final viva in late May or June. The outcomes allow us to compare three groups of trainees of our sample: Gender equality group (n=32) Physical Education (PE) group (n=38) Trainees with a gender equality in PE topic (n=9) Trainees with other topics in PE (n=29) 13 items examined didactic questions about teaching design and implementation in depth. Two open-ended questions were also offered: “Is your master’s dissertation of any interest to you? Discuss your reasons.” and “Have the activities in the initiation to research course helped you to transform your teaching practices? Discuss your reasons.”

First analysis show: - all trainees of the sample are interested in gender equality even though they didn’t choose this topic as an issue for their own master thesis - among the 13 items on didactics questions there is a broad variability of awareness on gender equality. Awareness is more present on items such as pupils grouping, activity mode (e.g. individual vs group), teacher>pupil interactions. All these items don’t require high level of didactic knowledge though they concern key items of classroom animation. - at the opposite, more specific didactic items such as didactic design of the course or assessment include less consideration of gender equality knowledge. The presentation would precise those outcomes and final findings and more developments.

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