Summary

I. The first thing that strikes the eye when one inquires into the premises, intentions, and results of French school reform is the importance of planning. Most recently, in addition to being systematically coordinated with manpower planning, this planning has been undergoing a development that, on the one hand, carries it beyond manpower planning — generally recognized to be insufficient — by introducing planning based on qualitative criteria; and, on the other, has grown through close cooperation between the Ministry of Education and the boards and committees dealing with matters of education and training, whose work is one component of the economic and social planning organized by the Planning Commission. This intensification of cooperation — which also signals a reduction in the gap between educational planning and educational policy — found concrete expression in the creation of twenty ministerial planning teams, whose findings were included in the deliberations of the Education Committee during preparation of the Sixth Plan for Education (1971-75) and were reflected in the content of its report.