Reforms in French Education

Notes

• We are grateful to the Spencer Foundation and the University of Missouri Graduate Re- search Council for grants which enabled us to conduct this study.
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• We wish to acknowledge our enormous debt to Inspector General Jean Auba, directeur general of the International Pedagogical Center at Sevres and to his capable and enthusiastic staff. From the very beginning they assisted us with our preliminary planning from the United States and once in France they were indispensible in coordinating our school visits and interviews. They were understanding and tolerant of our requests for last minute appointments and rescheduling of school visits as we discovered new ideas and themes to be explored.
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• Interviewees encompassed the entire range of educational responsibility at the local, regional, and national levels: members of the Inspections Corps (Inspecteur General, Inspecteur d'Académie, Inspecteur Premaire), administrators and teachers from the following educational establishments: pre-school, elementary, junior high, lycée, technical high, and teacher training colleges. Included also were professors from the university, the Ecole Normale Superieure (a Grande Ecole) as well as a former member of the cabinet of the minister of education.
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• Claude Sales , “L'intelligentsea, visite aux artisans de la culture,” Le Monde de l'éducation , February 1977 , p. 5 .
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• Previous to the 1977–78 school year ten hours were required for language and five hours for mathematics.
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• For a particularly clear and concise statement refer to: Descriptive Leaflet (Washington, D.C.: Council for Basic Education, undated), p. 1 .
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• This is a newly established position for the purpose of assisting teachers with pedagogical problems. The pedagogical counselor does not evaluate and in this respect more nearly resembles the American curriculum coordinator than the French Inspector.
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• Jacques Maritain , “Thomist Views on Education,” Modem Philosophies and Education , Fifty-Fourth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education ( Chicago : University of Chicago Press , 1955 ), p. 57 .
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• John Dewey , Experience and Education ( New York : Collier Books , 1963 ), p. 22 .
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• Ibid. , pp. 78 – 79
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• Under the French system, elementary school is composed of the first five grades, secondary education is divided into two cycles: the First Cycle, American grades six through nine, and the Second Cycle, American grades ten through twelve.
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• For this article we have decided to use the term First Cycle for this new institution. Collège d'Enseignment Secondaire is too cumbersome while Collège which it is often called is too easily confused with the American college.
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• There are only a few exceptions in sparsely populated areas.
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• Fredric Gaussen , ed., “Léchec des C.E.S.,” Le Monde de l'éducation , January 1977 , pp. 4 – 13
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• Wayne Dumas and William Lee , Social Studies in West German Schools: A First Hand Perspective for Educators ( Columbia , Mo. : University of Missouri Press , 1978 ).
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• Ministère de l' éducation Direction Des Lycées , Histoire et Géographie: Horaires, Programmes, Instructions ( Paris : Institut National D Recherche et de Documentation Pedagogiques , 1976 ), pp. 13 – 14
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• Ibid. , p. 33 ff.
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