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For our first featured author, we present Yves Bertrand, philosopher and retired faculty member of the University of Québec. Yves' academic pursuits have always involved theory and philosophy in learning. Holding the belief that what we think as teachers influences how we teach, he strives to make teaching/learning theory accessible to all. In order to attain such a goal, he wrote Contemporary Theories and Practice in Education, now in its second edition. This book was originally published in French and translated into many languages. It became a recommended text for teacher education in several countries. And, it has been immensely popular in English speaking countries.

We chose Yves to be our first featured author for several reasons. First, he is one of our long-time, loyal authors, having written one of our first books, and he continues to generate exciting new ideas, such as in his more philosophical titles, Nowhere Else and The Ordinary Hero. Another reason is the continuing popularity of Contemporary Theories in many countries, which made us think that you'd like to know more about him. And, the final reason is that Yves always engages people in exciting and interesting conversations when he comes to help at conferences, showing that he always has challenging ideas to offer.

Yves currently splits his time between Montréal and Belgium, continuing his writing in both locations.

QUESTIONS:

~How did you come to take on such a huge task as sorting through all the varied and conflicting theories in education?

I began my career as a professor of philosophy. Soon, I saw that teaching philosophy was, and is still, a hard and challenging task! I tried to motivate students to learn philosophy and I developed a teaching method based on projects. Two years into teaching philosophy, I created two different Centers for Teaching and Learning. Then, I went to the Ministry of Education of the Province of Québec as a specialist in teaching through innovation. From there, I worked as a consultant in teaching practice in the Faculty Development Center of the University of Montréal. After that, as a faculty member, for almost twenty years, at the University of Québec in distance education, I developed several educational programs, mainly for teacher education. All these years in teaching, planning, and counseling helped me to develop an expertise in different theories of education. Since 1970, I have written many articles and books on education.

~One of the interesting comments we've received about Contemporary Theories is that it brings in the European traditions to a greater extent than some other texts. Those who have commented are excited about that aspect. We've wondered why you chose to expand the field of theories that you include.

Since the first book I wrote in 1979 with a specific focus on theories of education, there has been a constant and rather fast evolution that marked the development of theories of learning and teaching. The field of education was not static. A lot of research was done on learning and motivation. Traveling to many European countries, and throughout the USA, I saw clearly that the educational field was in the midst of an ongoing transformation. This could be observed in many different countries. The interesting part of such an evolution in the theories and practice in education was that it was different in many important aspects from country to country, from continent to continent.

Furthermore witnessing, as many others have, the educational problems and the societal challenges facing our societies, I thought that it was imperative to give the broadest spectrum of contemporary theories of education and practice, and some of their consequences.

~Are there special challenges in addressing an English speaking, largely US audience?

Sure. This is a challenging task. But, since I have worked in different countries, I developed an international expertise that could be used in many different settings. My books are being used in different continents and in different languages. Our experience shows that a book like Contemporary Theories could be very useful for any audience, simply because practitioners in education share common issues and challenges, even when working within specific settings.

~Assuming that the choices we make as teachers reflect a theoretical base, as well as a personal philosophical base, how does the study of theories impact practice?

Theory informs practice which in turn informs theory, and so on back and forth. Behind every educational practice, behind every educational theory there are a set of basic ideas, assumptions, values, beliefs, and also basic issues that differ, often radically, from one theory to the other. Thus, it is quite impossible to change the way we teach without understanding the fundamental ideas behind what we adopt as educational practice. That is why we do it! And, by experience, I know that a faculty member or a teacher won’t easily go against her or his basic convictions. Any person needs to know why she or he has to change something.

~We know that your background was originally in philosophy and it seems like you've revived that interest in some of your recent writings. As the world in general, and teaching/learning in particular, becomes more defined by technology, do you see philosophy as being considered as relevant as it once was?

Philosophy is always about the foundations of knowledge and about understanding what we are doing in life. Consequently, all the changes done to the educational system need to be examined in their very fundamentals and their consequences. By the way, technology is not a dominant factor in teaching practice. As Contemporary Theories has shown, there are many theories and practice that are not characterized by technology. Understanding what we are doing is a much more dominant factor! At the least it should be! In every organizational structure, personal relationships are a more dominant factor. Such is personal motivation! But, it is not enough. We need to think globally, within an ecological perspective. For instance, I worked with Paul Valois on an ecological model of education and this perspective is still on the agenda of new theories to come.

~Thank you, Yves, for sharing with us. If anyone has particular questions for Yves, please send them to customerservice@atwoodpublishing.com and we will forward them to him.