At the end of the Second World War, it was decided by the French government with the support of school officials, including Gustave Monod (the head of secondary education), that the best way to address the Nation’s new and pressing educational needs (such as the rebuilding of damaged school settings) was to implement a large-scale progressive education experiment, which came to be known as the “Classes Nouvelles”. At the time, chief among these new needs was the democratization of secondary education, which was under way and was fraught with implications for the future of education and the nation.

Implemented in 1945, the “Classes nouvelles” experiment was a result of the desire on the part of school officials to build a democratized nation through progressive school reform. It led to a large-scale implementation of progressive school methods and principles into French secondary education: in 1945-1946, 200 new classes were opened in 90 cities and in more than 150 secondary schools, with about 3,750 pupils. Three years later, in 1948-1949, there were 844 new classes in 199 different schools. At the time, this represented no less than one fifth of France’s secondary schools, with 17,500 pupils enrolled in these classes.

Several concrete features, or organizational principles, distinguished these new, experimental and progressive classes from more conventional ones at that time:

- they were small classes, with 25 pupils maximum on average;

- they were conducted by a small group of motivated teachers;

- pupil self-government was encouraged;

- manual training, art and outdoor classes constituted important parts of the curriculum;

- teachers used progressive teaching methods and practices;

- the relationship between teachers and families were reinforced by regular meetings.

At the time, these “Classes nouvelles” were considered by school officials such as Gustave Monod as a prefigurative attempt to create a democratic secondary school system and, with it, a democratic French Nation. However, at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s, the experiment became the subject of heated debates among educators and the public. Many people, including numerous teachers, from various political persuasions argued that the experiment was a waste of money and led to a lowering of school standards. As a result, in 1952, the experiment was officially abandoned.  

The “Classes nouvelles” experiment however constitute an important episode in the history of French schooling and a milestone in the encounter between progressive education and public schooling in France. For these reasons, historians of education, such as Antoine Prost, Antoine Savoye, Xavier Riondet, André-D. Robert and Jean-Yves Seguy, have been interested in this progressive school reform effort and have addressed aspects of it. Drawing upon their work, this paper aims at understanding the ways in which this progressive school reform was positioned by its proponents as a key means to transform French education and society along democratic and progressive lines. Using archival and published sources (including photographs taken during the 1940s and 1950s) from the National Government and from progressive schools such as that of Billom, Puy-de-Dôme, this paper additionally aims at understanding how the “Classes nouvelles” changed the curriculum, social purposes and reality of schooling for pupils at the time. This paper consequently show that, despite significant changes in school atmosphere, the “Classes Nouvelles” were frequently taught in a ‘traditional’ way and that what David Tyack and Larry Cuban called the ‘grammar of schooling’ proved resilient. From a situated case - the French 'Classes nouvelles' experiment -, this paper thus unveils the ambiguity of progressive school reform in French secondary education after World War II. 

This paper is based on an analysis of archival material from the French Ministry of Education and local administrations as well as from published sources, including photographs, covering the experiment with the “Classes Nouvelles” from 1945 to 1952 in France. To explore the implementation of this progressive school reform at the local level, this paper uses archival and printed sources related to school settings that were at the forefront of the reform effort at the time: the Preparatory military school in Billom, Puy-de-Dôme, the Montgeron annex of the Henri IV Lycée, the Balzac lycée in Tours. This paper also shed lights on neglected aspects of this reform effort in less progressive schools such as the College de jeunes filles in Melun. In addition to this, this paper is based on an analysis of books and articles published by teachers who taught in the “Classes nouvelles”. Among these books, one may mention Le Professeur psychologue written by Lucien Lefèvre, prefaced by Gustave Monod, or Pédagogie des classes nouvelles written by Marc-André Bloch. The paper also draws on archival material from teacher associations such as the Association nationale des éducateurs des classes nouvelles de l’enseignement secondaire, ANECNES, founded in 1946. The bulletin of this association contains numerous accounts of school practice by "classes nouvelles" teachers.

This paper aims at understanding the ways in which the experiment with the progressive “Classes Nouvelles” was positioned by its proponents as a key means to transform French education and society along democratic and progressive lines after World War II. Drawing on archival sources from the Ministry of Education and local administration, the paper highlights some of the more striking features of this experiment, i.e. the process of its implementation. Indeed, this progressive school reform was a mixture of top-down and bottom-up school reform. School officials such as Gustave Monod organized national training courses at the École normale supérieure de Sèvres and at the then newly created Centre international d'études pédagogiques, for ‘Classes nouvelles’ teachers, principals and superintedent. Regional training courses were also organized to bring together teachers, under the leadership of regional educational advisors. In order to assess the evolution of the reform, school officials also conducted in-depth inspections. Using these archival and published sources (including photographs taken during the 1940’s and 1950’s) from the National Government and sources from progressive Classes nouvelles such as that of Billom, Puy-de-Dôme, this paper additionally aims at understanding how the “Classes nouvelles” changed the curriculum, social purposes and reality of schooling for pupils at the time. This paper consequently reveals that, despite significant changes in school atmosphere, the “Class Nouvelles” were frequently taught in a ‘traditional’ way and that what David Tyack and Larry Cuban called the ‘grammar of schooling’ proved resilient. From a situated case - the French 'Classes nouvelles' experiment -, this paper thus unveils the ambiguity of progressive school reform in French secondary education after World War II.

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