L'enseignement des questions scientifiques socialement vives dans l'enseignement agricole : Quelles sont les intentions des enseignants ?

Teaching socially sensitive scientific issues in agricultural training. What are the teachers’ intentions ? New programmes are being set-up in agricultural training courses, and in this context, scientific teaching should enable students to reflect upon societal issues pertaining to science. Teachers are advised to implement new teaching practices. In order to ascertain the attitudes of the teachers of different disciplines, we used a method inspired by the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen 1991). This theory was often used in social psychology, but is rarely applied in didactics (Erten et al. 2000). It works on the hypothesis that the intentions of individuals have a direct impact on their behaviour, in this case on the teaching practices implemented. The intention depends on the person’s attitude (positive or negative) to the practice being taught, on their perception of the norms imposed by the environment (socio-professional demand) and on the perception they have of being able to control such practices. The analysis brings to light motivation factors that could aide the implementation of new teaching strategies adapted to the new programmes. It also shows that the resistance factors are distinct from one discipline to another and according to the professional experience (new or experienced teachers).