One of the aims of European education policies in terms of professional training of pre-service teachers consists inconsolidating partnerships between universities and schools. At the scientific level, most studies emphasize the importance of strengthening the collaboration between trainers in both institutions through training programs based on the model of the “communities of practice” (Lave & Wenger, 1991). However, those studies do not really specify the nature of the activities organized in such programs. This study aims at analyzing the training activities of a team of trainers and their consequences on the professional training of pre-service teachers. It leans on a way of reading professional training of pre-service teachers (Bertone, 2011 ; Chaliès, 2012) which borrows some premises from a more global theory about learning (Nelson, 2008) and collective action (Wittgenstein, 2004). This way of reading is structured around three training activities : (i) teaching rules to enable pre-service teachers to give meaning to their experience and behave differently in class ; (ii) adjusting situations and checking the first instances of rule-following to enable them to observe the expected results; (iii) working along with them by helping them to interpret the rules they have learnt.This study was conducted together with two training teams in Physical Education. Every team was made up of one pre-service teacher and several trainers. They were created during training visits. Two sorts of data were gathered : audio and video recordings (of the lessons and of post-lesson interviews that had followed) ; self-confrontation data. Those information were analyzed so as to identify the rules that had been learnt and / or followed by the actors in order to give meaning to their activities in every step of the program.Results mainly show the significance, for the team of trainers, in : (i) carrying out a ostensive teaching activity (together with, possibly, an explanation), to enable the pre-service teachers to check if the first instances of rule-following are respected as they had planned ; (ii) adjusting class situations to make it easier to observe the results expected from the rules he would have taught beforehand ; (iii) working along with them in their professional development by helping them to use these very rules to new circumstances.
Analyze of a team of trainers' work and their consequences on the professional training of a pre-service teacher : a case in physical education