The French mainstream model about differences and other countries

Author(s):

Danielle Zay

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education

Format:

Symposium Paper

Session Information

23 SES 10 B, Finding Effective Inclusion Measures in Mainstream Education – Comparative Research in Ten European Countries (Part 1)

Symposium, to be continued in Session 23 SES 11 B

Time:

2009-09-30

14:45-16:15

Room:

HG, HS 7

Chair:

Ramon Flecha

Contribution

France has been a country of centralist traditions since the French Ancien Régime of the monarchy, and has been Universalist since the Declaration of the Rights of Man during the French Revolution, first applied to the schools of the 3rd Republic during the 19th century. It privileges individual rights as the basis of the State and considers nationality along the lines of integration and assimilation and citizenship in line with homogeneousness (Zay, 2005 a & b, 2007). Other European countries privilege birth in a community with regards to their citizenship within the State, but this means that while differences are respected, there is a risk that the differences take precedence over what is common to everyone in a nation. The paper will compare strength and weaknesses of the French mainstream model with those of other European countries. For instance, an American inquiry show that while half of British Muslims consider there is a “natural conflict between practicing Islam and living in modern society,” 72% of French Muslims see none, a proportion identical to that recorded for French society overall (Lesnes, 2006). Is it a positive effects of an educational policy founded on secularity ? The weakness of French educational policies is to take insufficient account of all the many differences with respect to knowledge, whatever their socio-cultural, psychological or physical origins. Nevertheless, the French model is changing thanks to the European Union. It will be explained why and how.

Method

Expected Outcomes

References

Arnesen, Anne-Lise et al (2008). Policies and practices for teaching sociocultural diversity – Report on the survey on initial education of teachers in sociocultural diversity. Strasbourg , Council of Europe Publishing, http://book.coe.int Lesne, C. (2006). Les musulmans français sont plus tolérants que leurs voisins européens. Le Monde, 29 August 2006, p. 11. Lorcerie, F. (2005). Quand l’islam revendique la laïcité. In Education et religion, Revue Ville –Ecole Intégration Diversité, n°142, sept 2005, p. 57-68 : http://www.cndp.fr/vei/ Maalouf, A. (1998). Les Identités meurtrières. Paris, Grasset Poche. Zay, Danielle (2005a). “Preventing School and Social Exclusion. A French-British Comparative Study”. In Danielle Zay, guest editor, " Young People Rights and Social Exclusion ". EERJ (European Educational Research Journal), vol. 4 Number 2, 2005 (www.wwwords.co.uk/EERJ), pp. 109- 120. Zay, Danielle (2005b). « Les paradigmes européens de l'exclusion sociale et les modèles scolaires de sa prévention en France et en Angleterrre. ». In Danielle Zay (sous la direction de). Prévenir l'exclusion scolaire et sociale des jeunes. Une approche franco-britannique. Paris, PUF, p. 7- 30. Zay, Danielle (2007). European Models for the Prevention of Social and School Exclusion. Visiting University Lecture, in Colloquium on Minority Languages and the Prevention of School and Social Exclusion, co-sponsored by Department of Curriculum & Instruction and Wisconsin Center for Educational Research, University of Wisconsin Madison (USA), 16-17 April 2007.

Author Information

Danielle Zay

University of Lille 3

Educational Sciences

Paris

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