“Regarding the autonomy of educational institutions, national education does not know what it wants”

Guillaume Prévost is the general delegate of Vers le Haut, a think tank dedicated to young people and education.

period Traditional Homecoming Press Conferencethe Minister of National Education drew a picture of a school “Too directive and instructive”, the political situation makes “A sign of the appeasement our system desperately needsThese surprising remarks highlight how little success a policy implemented by four ministers in two years has had, which has resulted in a succession of “schools of the future”, “clash of knowledge” or, briefly, “normal schools of the 21st century”. More broadly, ten years after the Reconstruction Act, Nicole Belloubet’s sudden candor lifts the veil on a school that has deeply lost its way because of its leaders.

Indeed, nothing illustrates the confusion better than the incomprehensible debate on the issue. Institutional AutonomyThis topic has become even more urgent since, in its recent economic report dedicated to France, the OECD stressed the need to prioritize improving the outcomes of education systems “Very concentrated» The result is close to the OECD average, but with higher spending and greater inequality. France’s poor education performance will result in a 2.7% drop in overall productivity due to the depreciation of human capital.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) A plan for assessing student performance (Pisa) specifically pointed out that our educational institutions have too little room for maneuver: “In 2017, 55% of decisions concerned lower secondary education (University) Compared with the OECD average of 24%, the central government has adoptedThe PISA results highlight the positive impact of increasing local accountability to students, parents and the public, provided three conditions are met: regular assessment of results, strengthening of institutions’ management capacity and provision of ongoing training tailored to teachers’ needs.

However, autonomy is not a new issueAs early as 1890, Léon Bourgeois estimated that “The principle of absolute uniformity does not satisfy any necessity, since the rules may vary within certain limits according to climate and region, local customs, and the needs and resources of different institutions.”. This focus on subsidiarity led to the creation of Public Local Education Authorities (EPLEs), which provided junior and senior high schools with a legal personality and a board of directors that included representatives of staff, parents, students and the local community.

National education seems far from being the homogenous and centralized juggernaut that the OECD portrays it to be.

Guillaume Prevost

Each institution also has Budgeting Tools Through the overall hourly allocation, it is left to the heads of institutions with “autonomy” to offer elective courses or four transversal courses prescribed by the program: Orientation, Moral and Civic Education, Health Education, and Arts and Cultural Education.

Finally, at the educational level, a broad right to experiment has been recognised since the Schools for the Future Act 2005, which has been further strengthened by the provisions of the Schools for the Future Act. Trust Schools Act 2019Therefore, all middle and high schools must have a “It defines the specific methods for implementing the national plans, the school and extracurricular activities that will contribute to these plans, and the ways and means for parents to participate.».

In short, national education appears to be far from the homogenous and centralized behemoth that the OECD describes it as. In fact, a quick glance at half a century of school policy reveals that: Continuous Reform It simply increases the means left for those on the ground to take greater initiative.

This is because, in France, we often overestimate the power of the law and ignore the political, administrative and cultural factors that intervene between the will of the legislator and reality. In the absence of clear local responsibilities, decentralization can only lead to a public powerless, fragmented into administrative skills and deprived of a holistic vision: how to build a truly local education project when the municipality’s competence extends to primary and extracurricular activities in schools, universities and disability departments? The region’s situation in terms of orientation, apprenticeships and high schools All of this, of course, is done while the state retains exclusive jurisdiction over education. So who is surprised that the community has so few seats on institutional boards?

The debate over level groups provides a striking example of the contradictions in the debate.

Guillaume Prevost

In addition, self-government, legal and budgetary instruments, Stop at the primary school gateInheriting the primary school law that required a school in each commune, which had to be close to the children’s homes, France now has more than 50,000 schools, half of which have a maximum of five classes. In this case, it is the teachers, usually partly dismissed, who assume the main administrative leadership responsibilities. The collegial culture of primary schools also explains the teachers’ strong reluctance when faced with the prospect of their colleagues turning into hierarchical superiors.

Autonomy or centralization? Ultimately, the question is more complicated than it seems. Controversy over level groups This debate provides a stark example of when the government suddenly intervened in educational organizations and unions to defend institutional autonomy.

Teaching unions often see institutional autonomy as a Trojan horse for the creeping privatization of national education, which will lead to competition between institutions, the strengthening of social segregation, and a hierarchy of teachers inspired by private companies. Many see centralized management as the best guarantee for defending the principles of public service and protecting its position. It is difficult to prove them completely wrong. Faced with scenes of unrest and political chaos.

Rather than opposing administrative, budgetary or educational autonomy, we should question the relevant levers to give back Our Education System The necessary wiggle room to better meet the needs of children and their families. These levers may have less to do with more positivity on the part of legislators and more to do with better dialogue with communities and a greater focus on providing the necessary wiggle room for local initiatives while respecting the long-term goals of education policy.