The introduction of competence-based education into the compulsory school curriculum in France (2002–2017): hybridity and polysemy as conditions for change

ABSTRACT

In France, the notion of competence began to be discussed in the early 1990s and was finally enforced in the Education Act of 23 April 2005. Since its emergence, this notion has been strongly opposed by a certain number of teachers, unions and researchers. To understand how competence-based education finally prevailed, I take into account the fundamentally polysemic nature of this notion. After pointing out its origins, I examine how its different meanings have been synthesised within the Common Core established in 2005. I then study the contradictions to which the implementation of this hybrid object has given rise, before analysing the new compromise that was found in the 2015 reform. To do this, I use the data from numerous archives and a series of interviews with the main actors of curriculum reforms in France since the 1980s.

KEYWORDS:

• Competence
• school curriculum
• France
• pedagogy
• progressive education
• new public management
• education reform

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 These databases can be accessed upon request.

2 Raymond Vatier (1921–2018) was an engineer in Renault car factories and an activist in Christian trade unions. He was in charge, at the beginning of the 1950s, of recruiting and setting up the training of Renault’s young engineers. Appointed to the Ministry of National Education in 1970, he is a central figure of vocational training in France and one of the main intermediaries between this world and the school world.

3 All English translations are mine.

4 Circulaire relative au Renouveau du service public, Journal officiel de la République française, 24 February 1989.

5 Ibid.

6 Décret du 11 juillet 2006 relatif au socle commun de connaissances et de compétences

7 Décret du 14 mai 2007 relatif au livret personnel de compétences.

8 https://soclecommun2012.wordpress.com/about/.

9 ENSAE is a prestigious and very selective engineering school that trains its students in mathematics, statistics, economics, finance and, more recently, data sciences.

10 INSEE is the main public body responsible for producing statistics on the French economy and society.

11 Interview with Claude Thélot, Paris, 22 January 2007.

12 Interview with Jean-Louis Nembrini (special adviser of the Minister of National Education), Paris, 14 March 2007.

13 ‘Le socle commun de connaissances et de compétences. Essai de synthèse’, DESCO, 3 October 2005.

14 Interview with a member of the HCE, Paris, 28 March 2007.

15 Alain Bouvier, ‘Le socle commun: pourquoi?’ 20 September 2006, speech at the CRDP of Orléans-Tours (transcription from the conference recording).

16 Décret du 11 juillet 2006 relatif au socle commun de connaissances et de compétences.

17 Interview with Jean-Louis Nembrini.

18 Bulletin officiel du ministère de l’Éducation nationale, hors-série n^o 6 (vol. 2), 19 April 2007, 11.

19 Ibid.

20 Bulletin officiel spécial n°06, 28 August 2008.

21 Open letter to the Minister of Education, 8 June 2012.

22 Décret du 31 mars 2015 relatif au socle commun de connaissances, de compétences et de culture.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid.

28 Arrêté du 9 novembre 2015.

29 Ibid.

30 Ibid.

31 Ibid.

32 Ibid.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pierre Clément

Pierre Clément is an assistant professor at the University of Rouen Normandy. He holds a PhD in sociology and teaches educational sciences. He’s interested in sociology and history of education and in political sociology.