Le défi de l’innovation dans l’enseignement secondaire français

Abstract

The challenge for innovation in French secondary education. Innovation policy consists in the permanent adaptation capability of the educational system and of its various components to the shifting needs of the individual and of society. The necessary harmonization between initial and continued training demands more flexibility in the contents, methods and structures. France is suffering from the lack of coordination between its assessment organisations and from the near total absence of an innovation policy. The budget for education research is ridiculous. For want of intermediate structures, such as managerial teams specialized in a given subject or working on interdepartmental approaches, there is no real follow up of the teachers ’ individual pedagogical work. The nature and structure of the French teaching staff, its civil service status, the definition of work obligations, the refusal to teach two subjects, all these aspects represent at best a brake, at worst an obstacle for innovation. The solution is therefore more in the shape of an exercise in political science than in didactics.