La formation des enseignants à la pédagogie universitaire au Cameroun : Le cas de l’Université de Yaoundé I.

Abstract

Expectations towards Universities have globally increased within the last thirty years. In the case of Cameroon, the main concerns have been the teachings quality and the graduate’s unemployment. For the purpose of handling those issues, some important reforms are being put in place on both administrative (New University Governance) and academic (the BDM system) aspects of the Institution. Among the solutions given by experts, University teachers training is considered to serve in improving the quality of academic governance and help the University become more of a development catalyst in all sectors of activities around the society. Therefore, this research questions the incidence of the pedagogy training of University teachers on the quality of academic governance. To look into it, we state the following hypothesis : the pedagogy training of University teachers enforces their professional identity, improve the teachings quality and facilitate the graduates employment. To check over that hypothesis, we appeal to a both interactionist and experiential approach, fed by the dramaturgical analysis and the theory of habitus. For the inquiry, we have recourse to a qualitative method that goes by extensive interviews with six students delegates, seven university teachers and three representatives of the University administration. The examination of perceptions and practices revealed by those interviews leads us to the following results : the University teachers training in pedagogy has a limited incidence on academic governance, be it from its microsocial (University actors) or its macrosocial (the University system) perspectives. The first one is about both the quality of teachings (lessons, practices) and the consolidation of the teachers professional identity. In one hand, students are satisfied with the contents that they receive, as well as the teaching practices that are used by those teachers. In the other hand, the University teachers pedagogical training help them in acquiring some pedagogical expertise and assert their professionalism contrary to their others colleagues. The second perspective is related to the graduates employment. Its incidence here is less effective, because, in spite of his pedagogical expertise, the teacher isn’t entitled to recruit his graduated students. That part of the employment equation is mainly under the responsibility of the graduate, who uses other means and resources on top of his University training to find or create a job for his himself.