Alternance in initial teacher training: A pathway to professionalization

Internships during teacher training programs constitute a form of alternance education which, depending on how they are organized, contribute in varying degrees to the professionalization of the teaching profession. This passage from the university to the school setting permits the development of competencies and a professional identity, but also creates tension. This article presents conceptual elements that situate internships as a training device conceived in a dynamics of alternance and of professionalization. Based on two research studies that examined the development of competencies using a methodological approach inspired in the “practical arguments” of Fenstermacher, we present some results that support the notion of internships as a space of teacher training and professionalization. We conclude that although professionalization as an individual and collective dynamics for the development of competences is an attractive perspective, certain conditions must be fulfilled in order to meet the expectations of such an approach.