Abstract
In 2020, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced teachers in Ontario to move online. Since then, teaching online or in hybrid models has been common across the province. To understand how French as a Second Language (FSL) teachers navigated these spaces, four Ontario French teachers were interviewed about their experience using educational technology and teaching online. Findings were analyzed in light of Hargreaves and Fullan’s (2020) reframing of classic understandings of teachers’ work in the context of the global pandemic. Findings show that factors influencing these teachers’ professional capital reflect common concerns among Canadian educators, alongside those specific to the FSL context. Participants' professional marginalization and seclusion demonstrates the importance of both the psychic rewards of teaching and cultures of collaboration. Ongoing efforts to capture ways in which teaching FSL has been shaped by the pandemic experience, therefore, require looking beyond individual classrooms to connected systems and systematic efforts of reform.
Highlights
In 2020, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced teachers in Ontario to move online
The participants’ in-depth discussion of their professional marginalization and seclusion in French as a Second Language (FSL) highlights the importance of both the psychic rewards of teaching as well as cultures of isolation and collaboration described by Hargreaves and Fullan
Similar to teachers cited by Hargreaves and Fullan, these FSL teachers’ professionalism and ability to adapt to teaching online were key to navigating the realities of the pandemic, yet their technology-focused competencies did not alleviate the persistent challenges they faced in their context
Summary
While it became abundantly clear that data and initially generated themes reinforced the chronic issues already noted in the FSL, educational technology, and online education literature, it was impossible to ignore the distinct and noteworthy nuances of the pandemic experience. The authors begin with the “apprenticeship of observation,” saying that the pandemic has forced the world to learn more about teaching from the ‘other side of the desk.’. They discuss ways in which teaching was made visible during the pandemic, the changing opinions about teaching online, and seeing teaching differently as a result. We present our findings in a way that speaks to the themes of FSL education, using educational technology and teaching online, and the ways in which the experiences of the pandemic nuance these themes for FSL teachers
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