UNamur trains tomorrow's teachers: a look back at the inauguration of the FaSEF

Education is one of the essential pillars of our society. "In a context where obscurantism gains ground a little more every day, where wealth gaps are more glaring, where wars accompanied by their massacres as well as climate risks flood our daily lives, the opening of a Faculty of Education and Training Sciences testifies to an awareness of the societal issues to be met in the coming decade " Sephora Boucenna, Dean of the Faculty of Education and Training Sciences, tells us. UNamur's aim is to make a lasting investment in facilitating access to information and knowledge, to put them into perspective in a critical approach, supported and accompanied by trainers and teachers. It is taking hold of Initial and Continuing Teacher Training to pursue this ambition.

In the 1980s, the creation of the Department of Education and Technology (DET) played a pioneering role in the development of student and teacher support programs. From the outset, the focus was on research and teaching. With more than 30 years of investment in initial and in-service teacher training, the University of Namur also stands out for its involvement in pedagogy specific to higher education. The skills developed within the DET, as well as the research carried out at UNamur's Institut de Recherches en Didactiques et Éducation (IRDENa), enable UNamur to offer a variety of support services aimed at students, future students, professors, teachers and all those involved in education.

The reform of initial teacher training (see box) led to the creation of this seventh faculty. This initiative has paved the way for new joint degree programs, in partnership with other institutions. With almost 500 students in the first year of a bachelor's degree and a new master's degree specializing in teacher training, the faculty is responding to growing demand in the field of education.

"We are the first university to dedicate ourselves to the sciences of education and training on French-speaking Belgian territory", explains Sephora Boucenna, "These sciences aim to understand phenomena linked to issues of learning, teaching or even training, while putting them into perspective with societal, economic and political formats". Laurent Schumacher, Vice-Rector for Education, confirms, "Thanks to the FASEF, UNamur is positioning itself in the field of education and training sciences.While the creation of the FASEF was initially defined by a "top-down" impulse with the arrival of the decree, reflection had already been underway for several years on the future of our DET."

Beyond the training provided, educational research is carried out at the FASEF. The Faculty's research lies at the crossroads of several disciplinary fields, including psychology, sociology, philosophy and didactics. Its researchers are required to take a multi-faceted approach to educational phenomena, in the light of the various disciplines that make up the educational sciences. Moreover, doctoral research is often nourished by training or support practices (for example, methodological support practices).

The FaSEF has also resolutely decided to highlight the key role played by the university's Integrated Interfaculty Services in the FaSEF. For the benefit of all faculties and their teachers, these services, made up of several cells, act on several axes. For example, they provide technological and techno-pedagogical support, and accompany teachers and students.

The added value of integrating these Interfaculty Services into the FaSEF is twofold. On the one hand, members of the integrated services (pedagogues, technopedagogues and administrators) of the new Faculty remain in constant contact with researchers so as to ensure a virtuous circle between access to the latest scientific advances and implementation. On the other hand, this enables scientific staff to work with colleagues from other faculties, in a supportive perspective, to evolve in a culture of service to researchers and teachers, with a constant concern for questioning and investigation.

This enables the entire UNamur academic community to evolve in a culture of service to researchers and teachers, with a constant concern for questioning and investigation.

The new Faculty of Education and Training Sciences (FaSEF) at UNamur was officially inaugurated this Wednesday, April 24, 2024. This day was punctuated by the intervention of three international speakers where, in the presence of numerous players in the teaching, training and pedagogy sector, current issues in connection with the educational sciences were discussed:

• The university pedagogy as a lever for development by Christelle Lison, Professor at the University of Sherbrooke, Canada.
• Training to teachby Olivier Maulini, Professor at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
• Les enjeux des sciences de l'éducationby Michel Fabre, Professor Emeritus at the University of Nantes, France.