Teacher training by alternating classroom work and work analysis: from the perspective of a social conception of meaning and action

This article explores teacher training by the alternation of classroom work and work analysis using an approach based on a social conception of meaning and action. The advantage of this approach is that it allows the development of professional activity in preservice teachers (PTs) to be assessed by tracking how the reflective tools acquired in training evolve in work and/or work analysis situations. The concepts of 'meaning' and 'expectation' are helpful in discussing the empirical data from a research program designed to evaluate the potential for PTs' professional development offered by the alternating work/analysis programs of French University Institutes of Teacher Training. The main conclusions concern the need to organize PTs' professional experiences within a training network so that PTs are not left on their own to face the diverse and complex situations of daily professional exercise. The effective procedures are those that allow PTs to construct concrete and circumstance-based expectations that the professional rules they have learned are still operational. These expectations help PTs to efficiently calibrate and interpret the meaning of their work experience, while also allowing them to prepare to act differently.