Séjour de mobilité linguistique obligatoire dans la formation des enseignants: oui, mais comment?

Abstract

The Institut Vorschulstufe und Primarstufe at the Pädagogische Hochschule Bern (PH IVP) trains future primary school teachers over the course of a three years Bachelor program. It is compulsory for all its students to attend a four-week linguistic stay in a French-speaking environment in Switzerland or abroad at some point during their training. How does the PH IVP set up linguistic stays? What is at stake for both the institution and the students with such a requirement? How do institutional instructions influence students’ choices in terms of destination or occupation? What professional applications are to be expected from the stay? This article offers a critical approach to the example of the PH IVP. It evaluates how the past institutional requirements were balanced and shows why and how the instructions have recently changed towards a view of giving the most from the linguistic stay.