Le rôle des interactions dans la reconstruction du savoir-faire d’enseignants formés à l’étranger œuvrant dans des classes d’accueil montréalaises

In recent decades, many immigrants have settled in Canada; some of them settle in Quebec, especially in Montreal. Some of these immigrants turn to the teaching profession, based on the comparative evaluation of their diplomas. Due to the shortage of teachers in Montreal and the ethnocultural plurality of the territory, the school boards located on the island of Montreal often call on internationally trained teachers (IETs), particularly in welcoming classes where they are considered particularly relevant given their knowledge of migration. However, the integration of IETs in welcoming class would raise particular challenges given that they do not always have French as their mother tongue and are unfamiliar with the Quebec school system, while the transmission of language and culture constitute the priority objectives of their mandate (Grégoire-Labrecque, 2014). In this context, their socio-professional integration requires attention. However, research on this issue has mostly documented the difficulties that they encounter during their first few years of practice in the host setting, as well as the strategies adopted to overcome them; little attention has been paid to the specific context in which they teach, such as the welcoming class which presents particular challenges. Thus, this research aims to understand how IETs adjust themselves to the work of Montreal welcoming class. Pépin’s theory of constructivism (1994), Goffman’s theory of dramaturgy (1973a, 1973b) and Becker’s theory of collective action (1982) are mobilized to shed light on this adjustment process then conceived as the reconstruction of their expertise at the centre of their interactions at work. The field research was carried out by means of nine virtual individual interviews with three IETs working in Montreal welcoming classes. After carrying out a thematic analysis of the interview transcriptions, three reconstruction processes of their expertise in welcoming class were identified: remobilization of known practices, adaptation of known but deviant practices and learning of unknown practices. A transversal reading of these results aroused the need for additional theoretical insight to enrich the interpretation of these processes and the role that interactions played in the work. Thus, an interactionist theory of socialization at work (Demazière et al., 2019) allowed to refine the understanding by highlighting four modes of interaction through which the reconstruction processes of the participants’ expertise are accomplished: validation, adjustment, confrontation and negotiation. This new analysis emphasizes that these modes of interaction, which appear both in welcoming class and in school, constitute the driving force behind the adaptation of participants’ practices with regard to the valuation of the work culture in Montreal schools.

Keyphrases: Immigrants francophones, Interaction, Constructivism, Francophones immigrants, Interactionism, Internationally trained teachers, Reconstruction process, Socialization at work, Socio-professional integration, Teacher expertise, Welcoming class