International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
Marginalization of University Professors Training in Tunisia: From Pedagogical
Provisions to Bureaucratic Formalities
Amani Bel Abed a Nadia Hamrouni b *
ª Assistant Professor, College of Humanities, University of Sousse
b
Assistant Professor, College of Humanities, University of Sousse
Abstract
While Tunisian authorities seem to acknowledge the correlation between teacher training, teaching effectiveness
and student achievement, they are still quite detached from its immediate implications. In this paper, we reflect
on the nature and status of Assistant Professors’ training programs in Tunisia. We assess the qualitative aspects
of the training programs using a questionnaire, referring to the training events attended in 2011 and 2013 at the
University of Sousse. This questionnaire aims at soliciting the trainees’ opinion on the training programs they
attended. The main objective is to elicit a description of their experiences with the current training model and
introspection about their needs for training provisions. After a diagnosis of the major problems encountered with
the programs, we suggest a number of workable solutions and propose alternative training models that would be
tailored to the trainees’ needs.
Keywords.
INTRODUCTION
The training and support of Assistant Professors (APs) is a topic of continuous interest. Indeed, the education
research community has extensively addressed the importance of teacher education and professional
development along with their influence on teaching quality and student achievement (Desimone, Porter, Garet,
Yoon, & Birman, 2002; Fishman, Marx, Best, & Tal, 2003; Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon, 2001).
The major concern has always been to find out the most effective and supportive teacher training models. In fact,
it is generally accepted that fostering teacher quality plays a major role in reaching high-quality education. For
that reason, authorities are usually concerned with providing the most supportive training programs for APs.
Unfortunately; however, in Tunisia the authorities’ involvement starts and ends with concern.
As a matter of fact, official recognition and implementation of APs teacher training in Tunisia started in 2008
with an Order of the Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology fixing the participation
of the new teachers in the educational training. As published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Tunisia
(2008), this Order stipulates that all newly recruited APs must undergo a probationary period/internship of two
years that could be extended for one year. The aforementioned internship comprehends two teacher-training
cycles that could be organized at the central, territorial or regional level in the framework of the university
concerned. The participation as well as the attendance in the cycles of teacher training are considered essential
factors in the evaluation of the internship. They are taken into consideration by the relevant bodies during the
discussion of the issue of tenure; additionally the progress made on the doctoral thesis is also acknowledged. It is
clear that policy-makers acknowledge the importance of providing teacher training for APs, however, nothing is
said about the content and character of that training. The official text does not address the question of how
teacher training should be made available to teachers nor does it specify its incentives and goals. It relegates this
task to the ‘university concerned’, which in theory should be a good thing for it allows the different educational
institutions to provide training opportunities that correspond to the needs of their APs. The actual state of affairs,
however, is totally different. Despite recognition of its importance, the teacher training currently available to
APs is woefully inadequate. The major problem is that most if not all universities do design teacher-training
programs that suffer from a one-size-fits-all approach that does not account for the difference in knowledge,
competences and skills of the different AP recruits. The current university-based teacher training programs tend
to train APs based on universal ‘best practices’ without taking into consideration the local contexts or the
specific needs related to the different content subjects that the trainees would actually teach.
E-mail address: amani-belabed@hotmail.com ndhamrouni@gmail.com
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