Pédagogie, culture et comparaison : visions et versions de l'école élémentaire

Abstract

This article draws on a comparative study of primary education in England, France, India, Russia and trie United States to uncover differences, similarities and universals in educational thinking and practice at the levels of system, school and classroom. Arguing that pedagogy must be understood as an aspect of culture, the author traces the interplay of two sets of values. One concerns the relationship of the individual to society; the other concerns the nature of knowledge, childhood and learning. These social and pedagogical values combine as distinctive versions of teaching, and the article briefly exemplifies their impact in schools and classrooms, especially in the teaching talk through which knowledge, learning - and culture - are mediated.