Laboratory of Education, Culture, Arts and Didactics of French Language and Literature (ECADLLF), Faculty of Sciences of Education, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco
Since its independence in 1956, Morocco has undertaken several educational system reforms with the aim of enhancing its educational indicators and assure quality education for its citizens. Among the recurring axes that are ceaselessly present throughout the various reforms that have been launched, the axis of training (pre-service and continuous) is granted a distinct status. Whereas pre-service training endeavors to prepare prospective teachers for their future duties and acquire the skills necessary for the profession, continuous training seeks to hone these skills and equip teachers with the tools that would expectedly help them adopt classroom practices that are founded on more dynamic and effective teaching approaches. Continuous training that does not contribute to the improvement of teacher practices within classes cannot claim to be playing a role in the implementation of the projected educational reform. Following this principle, this paper attempted to investigate the impact of continuous training cycles provided for primary school teachers in Morocco on their classroom practices. We have chosen the provincial directorate of Rabat as a practical illustration. Through (1) a quantitative study and analysis of the evolution of the number of primary school teachers who have benefited from continuous training cycles compared to the overall number, (2) an analysis of the axes of the Rabat directorate provincial action plan for continuous training, and most importantly through (3) a practical field study, by means of a digital questionnaire addressed to the provincial directorate primary school teachers who have benefited from continuous training over the past three years, we have identified positive and encouraging results as well as a number of deficiencies to which more attention has to be paid in order to realize the expected outcomes of the reform.