The French elite education system in the process of internationalisation. The end of a state nobility?
Author(s):
Anne Schippling (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2014
Network:
22. Research in Higher Education
Format:
Paper

Session Information

22 SES 09 D, Inclusion and Diversity in Higher Education Settings

Paper Session

Time:
2014-09-04
11:00-12:30
Room:
B019 Anfiteatro
Chair:
Hugh Busher

Contribution

The French elite education system is based on elite schools – the so-called grandes écoles – and the preparatoryion classes (classes préparatoires) offered by some prestigious lycées. The system is characterised by its uniquely severe selection process, which has no equivalent in the rest of Europe (see Jurt, 2004, p. 92). For centuries the grandes écoles in relation to their symbolic significance – especially compared to the universities – were the dominating elite education institutions that educated the national elite in various disciplines.

Pierre Bourdieu and his colleagues (e.g., Bourdieu, 1989; Bourdieu/de Saint Martin, 1978, 1987) studied the socially highly closed elite education system in France – especially in La noblesse d’État. On that basis they developed parts of the theory of social reproduction whose paradigmatic character has mostly remained unquestioned (see Joly, 2005, p. 11). Questions on internationalisation of the grandes écoles were not considered in Bourdieu’s work. The latter is mainly based on extensive quantitative data material dating from the 1960s and 1970s.

In the course of internationalisation processes affecting the French higher education system in the last few decades the traditional, rather small and internationally less visible elite colleges came under pressure. Due to their strong foundation in the national culture and their commitment to the Republican ideal, these institutions were “particularly affected by global changes”[1] (Veltz, 2007, p. 59).

The contribution[2] will focus on the following questions: In which way are the internationalisation processes reflected in discourses of self-representation of the French elite colleges (expert interviews with professors and institutions’ websites and brochures)? Which dimensions play an important role when focusing on internationalisation? On that basis the objective is to elaborate how internationalisation has an impact on the education of the future elite in France (among other things, social and cultural diversification) and how academic identity patterns develop or shift in this context. Therefore, the focus will be on two prestigious grandes écoles – the École Normale supérieure de la rue d’Ulm and the École normale supérieure de Cachan – which regard themselves as institutions forming the future research elite (see ENS, 2014).

In a theoretic dimension, the contribution positions itself within critical research on elites. It refers mainly to the theory of Pierre Bourdieu especially his concepts on ‘habitus’ and ‘field’. These can be understood as heuristic elements which can therefore be developed and, if necessary, modified within the research process. The contribution is situated at the interface of the area of research on elite schools in France and the field of internationalisation research in the education system.

The European higher education systems are, on the whole, affected by internationalisation challenges, but react in different ways (see e.g., Teichler, 2007, p. 35f.). An examination of different higher education systems and the development of a comparative perspective – which will be established in the last part of the contribution on France and Germany – seems for these reasons to be of high interest.


[1] All translations are the responsibility of the author.

[2] The proposed contribution is based on a research project entitled “French Elite Institutions in the Process of Internationalisation. A qualitative analysis of the Écoles normales supérieures”, which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Method

The study on internationalisation processes of the French elite colleges is based on a qualitative-empirical research design. The underlying data material consists of 25 expert interviews with professors (especially representatives of the college administration) of two Écoles normales supérieures. Among other things they include the subjects of the institutional image of the respondents, the recent transformations as well as the selection processes. Moreover, the data material consists of self-representation documents of the institutions on the internet (websites) or in brochures as well as participant observation of culture-related events (e.g., welcome events for new students, graduation ceremonies, etc.). [The data were collected from October 2010 to July 2011 during a research residence at the École normale supérieure de la rue d’Ulm in Paris (first research results see Schippling, 2012, 2013).] Thus a combination of reactive methods (expert interviews) emerges where the researcher him-/herself participates in the production of the empirical material, and non-reactive methods (e.g., document collection) where the researcher works with already existing material (see e.g., Krüger, 2000). The planned contribution is based on a secondary analysis of the expert interviews and the self-representation documents (involving new media and print media) in view of internationalisation processes. The data analysis is conducted in accordance to the methodology of the documentary method developed by Ralf Bohnsack (e.g., Bohnsack, 2009, 2010; Nohl, 2012). On the one hand, this method allows the topics of internationality/ internationalisation and related aspects to be worked out; on the other, it allows a reconstruction of implicit knowledge which is the basis of these topics. Moreover, the method is appropriate for the analysis of text material as well as images that can be found, in this case from websites or print media.

Expected Outcomes

The contribution embraces a perspective – the perspective of internationalisation regarding the French system of elite education – that does not play any role in the what could now be called classical works of Pierre Bourdieu and his colleagues. Taking into consideration this perspective, the contribution will offer new insights in the context of the theory of social reproduction. Furthermore, the qualitative-empirical study responds to a desideratum in the field of research on French grandes écoles. The latter concentrates mainly on the issue of social selectivity of these institutions and has often a quantitative nature (e.g., Baudelot/Matonti, 1994; Beaud/Convert, 2010; Van Zanten, 2010). Recent qualitative studies in this field that focus on, among other things, internationalisation questions are very limited (see Darchy-Koechlin/Draelants, 2010; Schippling 2012). Here comes into play the present study that, for the first time, systemically analyses the perspective of professors working at these elite educating institutions. All in all, the contribution will provide important new insights regarding recent transformation processes at French grandes écoles which will place, for example, the question of the existing highly socially exclusive character of these institutions in a new light.

References

BAUDELOT, C./MATONTI, F. (1994): Le recrutement social des normaliens 1914-1992, in: J.-F. SIRINELLI (Ed.): École normale supérieure. Le livre du bicentenaire. Paris: PUF, pp. 155-190. BEAUD, S./CONVERT, B. (2010): „30 % de boursiers“ en grande école et après? Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 183, pp. 4-13. BOHNSACK, R. (2009): Qualitative Bild- und Videointerpretation. Die dokumentarische Methode. Opladen/Farmington Hills, Barbara Budrich. BOHNSACK, R. (2010). Rekonstruktive Sozialforschung. Einführung in qualitative Methoden. Opladen/Farmington Hills, Barbara Budrich. BOURDIEU, P. (1989). La noblesse d’État. Grandes écoles et esprit de corps. Paris, Éditions de Minuit. BOURDIEU, P. & DE SAINT MARTIN, M. (1978). Le patronat. Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 20/21, pp. 3-82. BOURDIEU, P. & DE SAINT MARTIN, M. (1987). Agrégation et ségrégation. Le champ de grandes écoles et le champs du pouvoir. Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 69, pp. 2-50. DARCHY-KOECHLIN, B. & DRAELANTS, H. (2010). “To belong or not to belong?” The French model of elite selection and the integration of international students. French Politics, 8 (4), pp. 429-446. ENS (2014). École normale supérieure. Sciences, humanités, sciences sociales, http://www.ens.fr/IMG/file/a_propos_ens/presentation_ens_fr.pdf [28.01.2014]. JOLY, H. (2005): Introduction, in: H. JOLY (Ed.): Formation des élites en France et en Allemagne. Cergy-Pontoise: CIRAC, pp. 9-18. JURT, J. (2004): Les Grandes Écoles. Der französische Sonderweg der Elitenausbildung, in: J. JURT (Ed.): Intellektuelle - Elite - Führungskräfte und Bildungswesen in Frankreich und Deutschland. Freiburg i. Br.: Frankreichzentrum, pp. 91-96. KRÜGER, H.-H. (2000): Stichwort: Qualitative Forschung in der Erziehungswissenschaft. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 3, 3, pp. 323-342. NOHL, A.-M. (2012). Interview und dokumentarische Methode – Anleitungen für die Forschungspraxis. Wiesbaden, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. SCHIPPLING, A. (2012). Qualitativ-empirische Zugänge zum Feld französischer Elitehochschulen: Fallanalysen zur Selbstrepräsentation einer École normale supérieure. Zeitschrift für qualitative Forschung, 13, 1-2, pp. 191-208. SCHIPPLING, A. (2013). Elitebildung in Frankreich. Entwürfe zu idealen PrüfungskandidatInnen an französischen Elitehochschulen, in: K. MÜLLER-ROSELIUS & U. HERICKS (Eds): Bildung - Empirischer Zugang und theoretischer Widerstreit. Opladen/ Farmington Hills, Barbara Budrich, pp. 147-160. TEICHLER, U. (2007): Die Internationalisierung der Hochschulen. Neue Herausforderungen und Strategien. Frankfurt a. M./New York: Campus, pp. 9-60. VAN ZANTEN, A. (2010): L’ouverture sociale des grandes écoles: diversification des élites ou renouveau des politiques publiques d’éducation? Sociétés contemporaines, 79, pp. 69-96. VELTZ, P. (2007). Faut-il sauver les grandes écoles? De la culture de la sélection à la culture de l’innovation. Paris, Presses de Sciences Po.

Author Information

Anne Schippling (presenting / submitting)
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
Institut für Pädagogik
Halle/Saale

Update Modus of this Database

The current conference programme can be browsed in the conference management system (conftool) and, closer to the conference, in the conference app.
This database will be updated with the conference data after ECER. 

Search the ECER Programme

  • Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
  • Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
  • Search for authors and in the respective field.
  • For planning your conference attendance, please use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference and the conference agenda provided in conftool.
  • If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.