Les élèves et l'histoire dans l'examen français du certificat d'études primaires entre 1918 et 1926

This article presents the method used to study examination papers written by young pupils. This sort of pupils’ work can give information on who are involved in examinations.

‐ The pupils: what they learn in history and how they produce answers;

‐ The teachers: what they teach in their class and how;

‐ The juries: how they assess by means of a grade the minimum knowledge of most of the pupils who are to leave school.

The problem here is to follow the route from laws and decrees to real teachers and real pupils. Therefore, this research relies on source material such as annual primary inspector reports, annual local teachers’ meetings with model lessons, and, above all, examination papers. For this last source, a popular examination in France at that time was used: the Certificat d'Etudes, which was given at the end of the primary curriculum for 13‐year‐old pupils. By chance, the Departmental Archives of the Somme region still has 4058 history test examination papers from 1918 to 1926.     

Les systèmes éducatifs à la reé et l'île maurice: Quelle efficacité sociale?

The islands of Mauritius and Réunion have contrasting educational policies. This article examines, from a comparative perspective, not only the impact of political decisions on education but also the way in which the different educational systems in the two islands affect the democratisation of learning. In order to do this, the authors compare the educational trajectories of different pupils from a range of schools in Mauritius and Réunion. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches, it is possible to show that the expected social effects are moderated in the course of teaching. While the adoption of mass education is a prerequisite for democratisation, it must be recognised that systems also operate selectively with regard to variables such as sex, age or social origin, depending on what transpires in schools on a daily basis.     

Les enseignants du second degré français et leur conception sur les causes et la fatalité de la réussite (ou de l'échec) scolaire

Can school increase its productivity? Which is the attitude of teachers to this issue? INRP and University of Paris 5 made conducted survey on the issue, by questionnaire. Among more than 2000 answers to the questionnaire, a sample of 988 has been extracted to accurately represent the heterogeneous spectrum of French secondary school teachers. Individual qualities are considered essential spectrum among the conditions for success. The majority of teachers does not expect school to be able to counterbalance individual differences. Implications of these attitudes for teacher training are then discussed.     

Correspondance entre élèves : conditions d’une activité mathématique « créative » et problématisée à la fin du lycée

In this article, we characterized the forms of reasoning of French high school students (from Terminal Scientifique) in the course of an exchange of messages around the solution of a mathematical problem. Our goal was to determine whether or not the students make use of creative and investigative forms of reasoning. The results show that in the experimental conditions of the ‘mathematical correspondence,’ the students displayed an unusual mathematical problem-solving activity, one that is indeed more creative and investigative than those typically found in a classroom activity. The results are accompanied by an effort to explain the conditions that allowed for this unusual activity to develop and to suggest some paths to use this setting in the classroom, so as to facilitate better learning in problem-solving contexts and the transition from high school to university.     

Culture Politique,Scolarisation et Pratiques d’Appropriation: la Méthode Mutuelle dans le Minas Gerais (Brésil) au XIXe Siècle

This contribution deals with the adoption of the Lancasterian Monitorial System of Education in the State of Minas Gerais (Brazil) during the nineteenth century. The authors analyse the adoption of this device in the normalization of educational practices in schools and in the consolidation of the school system in the region. The structure and culture of a society, which still heavily relied on the work of slaves, framed the appropriation of this pedagogical innovation. The ambivalence between the rhetoric of freedom and independence and the search for new disciplinary devices pervaded all educational efforts and it also did so in the process of appropriation of the method. Along these lines, the authors present the discussion of the liberal elites of the region favouring the method, some new devices introduced in the culture of punishment, and the attitudes of the teachers faced with this innovation.     

Une personnalité du monde de l’Éducation nouvelle: Charles Ange Laisant (1841–1920) et son combat politique pour une éducation rationnelle fondée sur la science

In the world of nineteenth‐century educators Charles Ange Laisant occupies a special place. Laisant’s training, which was that of the French elite, opened up an administrative career but at the same time he continued to work and publish in the subject area of mathematics. His research demonstrates that he was clearly an accepted member of the scientific world, and he met the most eminent mathematicians of his day. Laisant played a major role in structuring the mathematical community, both nationally and internationally. He participated prominently in the battle that led to a change in the status and teaching of science in many countries in the early twentieth century. He is also one of those individuals who dedicated themselves to the renewal of pedagogy and to the goals of the new education. Yet, Laisant is still largely unknown; perhaps because of the profusion of his activities and interests he remains beyond the limits of traditional analysis. The author has chosen here, after retracing Laisant’s life in all its diversity, to focus on the profound unity of thought that characterised his mind. Laisant’s life as an educator allows us to understand how politics, science and teaching were inextricably linked, and to witness how personalities so diverse, even opposing, could come together to pursue common goals of educational reform.     

L’héritage de la méthode suédoise d’éducation physique en France: les conflits de méthode au sein de l’Ecole normale de gymnastique et d’escrime de Joinville au début du XXème siècle

The Swedish physical education method has had a singular destiny in France. Originally created by the Swedish Per Henrik Ling (1776–1839), it first spread in France thanks to German doctors. From 1902, the Swedish method became the official method of the Ecole normale de gymnastique et d’escrime de Joinville. It caused serious dissension first within the army, between Georges Hébert, a naval officer attempting to spread his own method called ‘Méthode naturelle’, and Emile Coste, a major at Joinville school who was a resolute supporter of Ling’s method; then within Joinville school, where, from 1905, Georges Demeny, renowned physiologist, tried to impose his French method ‘Eclectique’. The three protagonists would use arguments focused on the rationality of the Swedish method to legitimize or criticize it. But this explicit stake based on the validity of the link between a scientific culture – anatomy and physiology – and a physical education method does not mask the implicit stake of real power.