Education in France: Continuity and Change in the Mitterand Years, 1981-1995 (International Developments in School Reform)

In common with most industrialised countries, France has undertaken an ambitious programme of education reform over the last fifteen years. This book uses key extracts from contemporary writing to examine exactly how and why that process has happened, focusing on all stages of the education system. Sections cover the main characteristics of school reform in France, its aims and objectives, a discussion of the desirability of and politics surrounding the reform process, and explorations of classroom practice, the changing role of parents, standards in schools, and the curriculum. Because of its high quality, wide and up-to-date coverage of the area, this book will be a vital reference text for all those working in this field. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 List of contributors......Page 10 Series introduction......Page 12 Preface......Page 14 Sources......Page 16 Acknowledgements......Page 19 Introduction......Page 22 Secular, free and compulsory: republican values in French education Anne Corbett......Page 24 Education and training in Europe for the year 2010 Rene Mabit......Page 41 Introduction......Page 64 The 'loi Jospin': The Education Framework Act 1989......Page 68 Work, worth, talent Jean-Pierre Chevnement......Page 75 Now or never Lionel Jospin......Page 80 Avoiding the break-up of the French education system Francois Bayrou......Page 100 Introduction......Page 108 Constraints on policy innovation in education: Thatcher's Britain and Mitterrand's France John S.Ambler......Page 112 Policy implementation in the French public bureaucracy: the case of education Roger Duclaud-Williams......Page 138 Challenging the idea of centralized control: the reform of the French curriculum in a European context Bob Moon......Page 161 Decentralizing the education system: A test for the regionsHelne Hatzfeld......Page 183 The regions in the educational race Christine Garin......Page 202 A changing focus of power: from the all-powerful state to the user-customer Robert Ballion......Page 208 Introduction......Page 218 Nursery education for the two-year-old: social and educational effects Jean-Pierre Jarousse, Alain Mingat and Marc Richard......Page 222 Educational homogeneity in French primary education: a double case study Keith Sharpe......Page 235 A lesson in progress? Primary classrooms observed in England and France Marilyn Osborn and Patricia Broadfoot......Page 257 Lower secondary education in France: from uniformity to institutional autonomy Jean-Louis Derouet......Page 272 The educational renovation of the lycee: continuity or change? Andre Legrand and Georges Solaux......Page 289 A sociology of the lycee student Francois Dubet, Olivier Cousin and Jean-Philippe Guillemet......Page 304 Special education in France Felicity Armstrong......Page 319 From the schoolteacher to the expert: the IUFM and the evolution of training institutions Raymond Bourdoncle......Page 328 Introduction......Page 342 Principles for reflecting on the curriculum Pierre Bourdieu......Page 346 A pair of boots is as good as Shakespeare Alain Finkielkraut......Page 354 The educational maelstrom Antoine Prost......Page 368 Is differentiated teaching out of date? Philippe Meirieu......Page 378 Academic failure, social failure: teaching in the lost suburbs Maurice Lemoine......Page 388 Scarves, schools and segregation: the foulard affair David Beriss......Page 396 The child, a citizen at school Jacqueline Costa-Lascoux......Page 407 The French education system......Page 418 Glossary......Page 419 Index......Page 421 France has undertaken an ambitious programme of education reform over the last 15 years. This book uses key extracts from contemporary writing to examine how and why that process has happened, focusing on all stages of the education system Everyone knows the story of the French Minister of Education looking at his watch at three o'clock on a Monday afternoon and saying to a visitor: 'At this moment pupils in the year five in every French school will be study Racine'. Providing a comprehensive overview of the French education system, this book will be an essential purchase for anyone interested in this field