École Nationale Supérieure de Formation de l'Enseignement Agricole

At the heart of Agricultural Education and Toulouse University Campus, on the outskirts of Toulouse, France’s second largest university town, the École Nationale Supérieure de Formation de l’Enseignement Agricole (ENSFEA) is situated on a privileged site. Founded in 1963, ENSFEA is one of 15 State institutes of higher agricultural education in France, “une Grande Ecole”. At the very core of the agro-veterinary « Toulouse Agri Campus », ENSFEA combines, in an original way, skills in the domain of agro-biosciences, and in social sciences and humanities. Its prime mission is to provide initial an on-going professional training for teachers in State vocational agricultural schools as well as to support innovative projects in science and agricultural education. ENSFEA is also engaged in research and support for technology transfer and in a variety of international cooperation activities.  ENSFEA is intimately concerned with all the important issues in society: sustainable development, health and food security, the evolution of professional skills and knowledge, the impact of information and communication technologies.

The ENSFEA French team has developed, since the 90s, a significant program of research on the introduction of socio-scientific issues (SSI) in education. They have extensive experience in international research projects, including through participation in three European programs on the teaching of biotechnology. The French team is currently a partner of 3 French programs: anANR partner program on education for sustainable development, 2 programs to elaborate new teaching methods on the issue of the reduction of pesticides and on the issue of animal welfare. They are also involved in a Franco-Australian program on “Exploring socio-scientific issues through digital technology: The impact of context and culture”. 

ENSFEA has hosted the 5^th consortium meeting in Month 40.

Teacher Professional Development in SSIBL-Upper Secondary Education (WP4)

ENSFEA local webpage [fr]

ENSFEA PARRISE brochire [fr]

Laurence Simonneaux, professor of agronomy and science education since 2001. She has lead several research programmes on biotechnology education (about cloning, transgenesis, genetic screening, stem cells, GMO and biodiversity) and other socio-scientific issues in education. She coordinates a research team on didactics. She is the director of 2 Master degrees. She was a member of the Academic Committee of the European Researchers in Didactics of Biology (ERIDOB). Her academic background is agronomy and science education. She has coordinated several books dealing with discussions, debate, argumentation and the teaching of controversial socio-scientific issues.

Jean Simonneaux is professor of social sciences education since 2011. His background in agronomy, sociology and economics allows him to analyse social and societal perception of risk and uncertainty in controversial socio-scientific issues. He has collaborated to many research in that field, especially on sustainable issues and contributed to scientific papers and books.

Olivier Morin is a Ph.D. student at Toulouse 2 University (ENSFEA). He studied during his Master in History, Philosophy and Science Education (Lyon 1, 2010, with honours) the characterization of socio-scientific reasoning from the perspective of sustainability. He took a major role in the analysis of data and conference presentations of the Franco-Australian project “Exploring socio-scientific issues through digital technology: the impact of context and culture” (2011/2012).

Nicolas Hervé, Ph.D. in Physics Education, conducts research in the areas of socio-scientific issues (climate change, energy), IBSE and analysis of teaching practices (in particular the joint action theory in order to describe and understand the classroom practice).

Amélie Lipp is a Ph.D. student and lecturer in pre and in-service teacher education at ENSFEA. She teaches courses on animal husbandry, animal welfare and didactic approaches. Her research explores how teachers and students in agricultural and technical training deal with issues about agricultural SSIs.

Nathalie Panissal is professor in science education, member of the Laboratory FrED (Francophonie Education et Diversités), at the University of Limoges. She teaches psychology, philosophy and didactics of Socially Acute Questions. She studies the development of students’ ethical thinking involved in the didactic devices of citizenship education concerning nanotechnologies and technosciences in general.