A Round-Up of French Language Media Publications

François Archambault & Jean François Lemoine, Quatre milliards de journaux: La presse de province (Paris: A. Moreau, 1977—55 FF, 484 pp.)

Alain Besson, La Presse locale en liberté surveillée (Paris: Editions Ouvrières, 1978—38 FF, 256 pp.)

Jean Cluzel, Télé-Violence (Paris: Plon, 1978—35 FF, 251 pp.)

Jean Egen, Le Canard Enchainé (Paris: Seghers, 1978—19.50 FF, 187 pp.)

Francis Hamon, Liberté et responsabilité de la presse en Grande-Bretagne: le Press Council; and Claude-Jean Bertrand, Les Conseils de presse dans la monde (Paris: Notes et etudes documentaires, La Documentation francaise, December 26, 1977—10.50 FF, 79 pp.)

Denis Perier-Daville, La Liberté de la presse nest pas à vendre (Paris: Le Seuil, 1978—42 FF, 254 pp.)

Jean Bruno Renard, Clefs pour la bande dessineé (Paris: Seghers, 1978— 25 FF, 256 pp.)

Pierre Schaeffer, Les Antennes de Jéricho (Paris: Stock, 1978—49 FF, 333 pp.)     

Muslim Freedmen in León,Castile and Portugal (1100–1300)

This article examines the social status of manumitted Muslim slaves in the Christian kingdoms of León, Castile and Portugal between 1100 and 1300. Modern historians had largely overlooked this social group of which very little is known. Using both law codes and other surviving Latin and Arabic documents from the period, the author examines the process of manumission. Emancipation did not mean complete freedom. A freedman emancipated conditionally could continue to be bound to serve his owner, depending on the particular terms of the contract. Furthermore, according to the legal codes, even if a freedman or freedwoman was manumitted unconditionally by his or her owner, they would continue to suffer legal disabilities due to their previous condition. The end result was that freedmen formed an intermediate social and legal category, no longer servile but neither completely free.     

Personal and Situational Factors Influencing Intrinsic Interest of Adolescent Girls in School Physical Education: a structural equation modelling analysis

This study assessed the influence of individual and contextual factors on adolescent girls’ interest in school physical education (PE). Specifically, girls (N = 700) were assessed on: (a), perceptions of their PE class climate, using the Perceived Motivational Climate Scale (PMCS, Cury et al., 1994; (b) dispositional achievement goal orientations, using the French version of the Perception of Success Questionnaire (POSQ, Durand et alM in press; and (c) the interest and competence subscales from the French version of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI, Cury et al., 1994a). Structural equation modelling analysis, using LISREL VII, showed an excellent fit with the hypothesised model. Specifically, situational class climate was found to be more important than individual goals in influencing pupil interest in PE. However, perceived competence also influenced interest, as did a mastery goal orientation. Results are discussed in the context of theoretical propositions of goal perspectives theory and practical issues of enhancing adolescent girls’ interest in physical education.     

Learning from expository texts: Effects of the interaction of prior knowledge and text structure on responses to different question types

The objective of this study was to verify the effects of the interaction between text structures and prior knowledge on memory and learning from expository texts. It examined the effects of two levels of prior knowledge and two types of mixed structures on a post-reading questionnaire. A total of 119 French-speaking, sixth-grade subjects were selected on the basis of a multiple-choice questionnaire. This questionnaire served to distinguish two groups, one possessing a high level of prior knowledge about the topic covered in the text (HP group), and another having a low level of prior knowledge (LP group). The children’s reading ability was evaluated by a cloze test that also served to eliminate children with reading comprehension difficulties from the experimental groups. The subjects in each group were arbitrarily assigned to subgroups. One group read an experimental passage, “The effects of acid rain on maple and pine”, which was organized in a collection inserted in cause/effect structure (SI). The other group read the same information, but which was organized in a comparison inserted in cause/effect structure (S2). The post-reading measure consisted of 24 questions that varied according to three criteria. The statistical analysis revealed that the effects of text structure were dependent on the level of prior knowledge and on the type of questions and confirmed that prior knowledge had a determining influence on knowledge acquisition.     

French-speaking universities in sub-Saharan Africa

Director of IREDU (Institut de Recherche sur l'économie de l'éducation), a laboratory of the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) at the University of Burgundy in Dijon. Author of numerous books and articles on the sujet of the costs, financing and efficiency of education systems. He is also a consultant to international organizations (UNESCO, IIEP, UNDP, OECD, World Bank, ILO) and governments, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.     

On the testing of standards and standardized achievement testing: Panacea,placebo, or pandora's box?

Parents and educators concerned with the quality of education in Canadian schools have been subjected to a concerted campaign (through editorials, columns, and letters to the editor in major dailies and magazines, as well as a spate of books with alarmist titles) aimed at convincing them that the lack of adequate testing represents a major shortcoming and a stumbling block to educational reform. Provincewide and nationwide standardized achievement tests are offered as an indispensable tool to understand what works and what does not, to let parents know how schools are doing and how well their children are performing, and to make teachers and school boards accountable. Provincial education authorities are finding it increasingly difficult to resist the pressure, with Ontario the latest to jump on the testing bandwagon. However, although concerns about school curricula and about the best methods for testing student learning and performance are legitimate, the belief that standardized achievement tests are part of the solution to many ills allegedly afflicting our educational system does not stand up to the increasingly clear evidence of the many problems associated with the construction and administration of these tests, as well as the misuse and abuse of test scores. Far from being a panacea, this approach has proved to be fraught with dangers and adverse effects, from a narrowing of the curriculum to overemphasis of routine processes at the expense of higher learning skills, with virtually no empirical support for the purported benefits. With Canadian students facing the risk of being subjected to the same abuses as their U.S. counterparts, this paper reviews recent contributions and attempts to alert educators and policymakers to the serious deficiencies of this type of testing.     

RANKINGS OF PREDICTORS OF ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE BY TOP LEVEL COACHES

Two studies are reported in which coaches of Dutch top level athletes ranked 10 general factors recognized as predictors of athletic performance. In the first study, the coaching staff of the national teams in judo, speed skating, swimming, and table tennis were involved (n=50), and in the second coaches in field hockey, golf, and track and field (n=65); in track and field, two types of athlete were assessed: the “explosive” and the “endurance” types. Agreement among coaches within a sport appears to vary from rather high to quite low, indicating that they do not always rank the various factors in an identical way. In spite of these imperfect interjudge reliabilities, most of the groups of coaches made very similar group rankings, in which three factors were generally considered to be of primary importance: physical fitness, mental fitness and natural endowment These findings are discussed in the context of the emphasis which is often given to the effects of the immediate environment in the development of talented individuals.     

Maternal scaffolding of attention between 5 and 8 months

Infants’ abilities to focus attention on objects and mothers’ behaviors mobilizing the attention of their child were studied in a sample of 30 dyads, at 5 and 8 months of age. It was hypothesized that at the younger age infants need their mothers’ scaffolding to explore their environment, and that the frequency of mothers’ encouragements at that age is related with their attentional capacities at 8 months; at this later age, mother’s and infant’s behaviors should no more be correlated. Data concerning both the total frequency of the target behaviors and the length of individual occurrences strongly confirm the hypotheses. They imply that in the mother attention getting should be distinguished from attention holding, and are discussed in terms of educational consequences.     

Networking and the use of information technologies in the French education system

Conclusion It may be pointed out in conclusion that the two connotations of the word ‘network’— the fact of working together coupled with that of the new information and communication media—finally come together and situate the French education system in a real context of change, for both connotations are obviously complementary. Communication, co-operative work, the pooling of resources and skills, with a view to improving the quality and effectiveness of education and promoting equality of opportunity through access to knowledge, are central to these various projects. Thanks to the greater flexibility made possible by these tools, a new public—those who are isolated or those who find it impossible to move—are and will be taken into account. The purpose of these projects is to increase the performance of the education system and adapt it to the social and economic realities of the community. This shows how important it is to facilitate their implementation, in association with all partners concerned. Original language: French Fran?ois Louis (France) University degrees in public law and labour law and a graduate of the French école nationale d'administration (ENA) (1979). Since 1989, he has been head of the Planning and Resources Management Unit of the French Direction des lycées et collèges, after having held the post of Secretary-General of educational administration for the Paris region. In 1994, he published a book entitledDécentralisation et autonomie des établissements [Decentralization and school autonomy], as well as a report published by OECD in 1995 entitledL'enseignement secondaire en France, la mutation des dix dernières années [Secondary education in France, a decade of change].     

Réformes Des Programmes Scolaires Et Acquisitions á L’école Primaire En Afrique: Mythes Et Réalités

SCHOOL CURRICULA REFORMS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN AFRICA: MYTH VS. REALITY - This paper proposes a critical analysis of the introduction and implementation of new school curricula in Africa based on the example of the skills based approach (SBA). In many countries, the SBA has been chosen as the most appropriate and relevant method to change their school curriculum and improve education quality. We analyse the implementation of those new curricula based on the SBA in primary schools in Mauritania. The results show that the main problems affecting pupils’ achievement lie rather in the effective implementation of curricula in the classrooms than in their contents. Additional analyses show that this result is confirmed in other African countries. As a background analysis, we present the origins of SBA, define its purposes and assess its limits from a pedagogical point of view. The weaknesses of this approach in taking into account the needs and the realities of African educational systems are stressed. These various elements lead to the conclusion that if curriculum reforms are often necessary in African countries, this can not be a cure for education quality issues.