French High Schools Research Articles

How Effective are Female Role Models in Steering Girls Towards STEM? Evidence from French High Schools

Abstract We show in a large-scale field experiment that a brief exposure to female role models working in scientific fields affects high school students’ perceptions and choices of undergraduate major. The classroom interventions reduced the prevalence of stereotypical views on jobs in science and gender differences in abilities. They also made high-achieving girls in grade 12 more likely to enrol in selective and male-dominated science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs in college. Comparing treatment effects across the 56 role model participants, we find that the most effective interventions are those that improved students’ perceptions of science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers without overemphasising women’s under-representation in science.

A Story with Characters and Action

A Story with Characters and Action

O7-4 Temporal trends in sport participation according to WHO physical activity guidelines and its effect on weight status: a French school-based study between 2015 and 2019

BackgroundInsufficient physical activity (PA) is an important risk factor for overweight and obesity among adolescents, both causes of cardiovascular diseases. Sport is the largest contributor to achieving the World Health Organization (WHO) PA levels guidelines. However, few studies have investigated temporal trends in weekly sport participation in relation to adolescents' weight status. The main objective of this study was to compare sport participation to weight status and investigate their relationship over time.MethodsTwo data collections were conducted during spring 2015 (n = 1019) and 2019 (n = 1112) in 30 French high schools. Adolescents reported their age, sex, height, weight, parents' socioeconomic status (SES) and hours of sport per week. Body mass index was calculated and classified into three categories (normal weight, overweight, obese) according to the International Obesity Task Force. Three sports groups were created according to WHO PA guidelines: no sport (NS), sport less than 7 hours a week (7-) and sport more than or equal to 7 hours a week (7+). Binary logistic regressions adjusted for age, sex and SES were performed to evaluate sport participation, weight status and their relationship over time.ResultsBetween 2015 and 2019, prevalence of overweight and obesity increased from 9.1% to 14.1%, with this increase greater among low-SES girls. We observed an increase in both the proportion of adolescents playing 7+ hours of sport (8.0% to 12.3%) and those not playing sport (34.2% to 35.9%). These changes varied according to adolescents' SES. In 2019, low-SES adolescents were 1.5 times less likely to play sport (95% CI:1.17-1.99) while no change was observed among high-SES adolescents. Finally, 7+ adolescents were no more likely to be overweight or obese in 2019 compared to 2015. Contrarily, NS and 7- adolescents were 1.7 and 1.8 times more likely respectively to be overweight or obese in 2019 compared to 2015.ConclusionThese results confirm the adequacy of WHO PA recommendations to counter the rise of overweight and obesity, and show that enough hours of sport participation alone could help stabilize overweight and obesity prevalence, without controlling for other forms of PA.

La consommation d’alcool des jeunes footballeurs.euses (14-19 ans) : impacts de l’âge, du sexe et du niveau d’expertise

The excessive alcohol consumption is important in football and very harmful, above all, amongst young people. Because sport is largely associated with alcohol consumption in the scientific literature, the aim of this work is to study this phenomenon among young footballers. 1 064 questionnaires were collected by an independent organism in different French high schools. Six ANOVAs were performed with one factor, in order to analyze the data and to differentiate male and female athletes and non-athletes. The results showed that boys drink alcohol more frequently than girls and national male footballers drink less alcohol than others. The results showed athletes consume more alcohol than non-athletes. This study is exploratory even if the sample seems large, female players are too few to generate reliable results. It could be interesting to confirm these results in a more qualitative study with in-depth interviews.

Introduction

It is well known that the school subject “philosophy” has a long tradition in French high schools. However, there is – which is less well known – also a French tradition of didactics of philosophy. Unfortunately, didactical research in France has so far been published for the most part in French only. Since we see great potential in engaging with the didactical research done in France, we took the opportunity to invite one of the leading French researchers, Michel Tozzi, to publish a translation of his article Une approche par compétences en philosophie? (2011). In this introduction, we give a very brief historical overview about the development of the didactics of philosophy in France and then some information about Tozzi’s work.

Do Female Role Models Reduce the Gender Gap in Science? Evidence from French High Schools

We show in a large-scale field experiment that a brief exposure to female role models working in scientific fields affects high school students’ perceptions and choice of undergraduate major. While the classroom interventions generally reduce the prevalence of stereotypical views on jobs in science and gender differences in abilities, the effects on educational choices are concentrated among high-achieving girls in Grade 12. They are more likely to enroll in selective and male-dominated STEM programs in college. The most effective role model interventions are those that improved students’ perceptions of STEM careers without overemphasizing women’s underrepresentation in science.

Teaching Global History and Geography Using the Indian Ocean as a Unit of Analysis

The units of analysis historians and geographers use dictate what questions are asked, which stories are told and eventually which patterns emerge. Units of analysis are framing tools that help scholars identify global patterns. By focusing on seas and ocean basins, one can bring out the processes of interaction that link peoples living in the various regions around a sea and ocean basin. Nowadays, as Global History is emerging as a new historical paradigm and as a form of “global geography” is being taught in French high schools, the Indian Ocean framework, like the Mediterranean Sea decades ago with historians such as Fernand Braudel, is commonly used to explain the early development of global trade networks and regional cross-cultural interactions in what is commonly referred to as the “Old World”, as opposed to the “New World” “discovered” by Christopher Columbus in 1492. This article deals with this recent and unprecedented use of the Indian Ocean as a global framework for historical and geographical analysis in teaching and research fields and explains why teaching about the Indian Ocean world as a zone of dynamic interaction between peoples makes more pedagogical, historical and geographical sense than teaching about it through traditionally delineated national or continental units in a globalized world. It also discusses the limitations of the use of such a broad unit of analysis and the potential consequences of a teleological bias that prompts historians and teachers to try integrating the human past into a comprehensive big picture that emphasises the shared experiences of all humans sometimes at the expense of a somewhat traditional historiography, focusing on the idea that the human past is marked by important differences between peoples across space and time. The conclusion assesses how global historians and geographers are attempting to reconcile the idea of an increasing integration at the global scale with that of proliferating difference at the local and regional scales and envisages the ways in which they can construct and teach a global historical and geographical narrative of the past and of our contemporary world that may help students understand the growing complexities and challenges of globalization, including global environmental issues such as the building of a sustainable future for all.

한국어 학습자의 동기, 태도, 소셜미디어 사용과 언어학습 전략 간의 상관관계 분석 -프랑스 고등학교 한국어 학습자를 중심으로-

본고는 프랑스 고등학교 한국어 학습자들의 동기, 태도, 소셜미디어 사용양상, 언어학습 전략을 파악하여 학습자에 대한 이해의 폭을 넓히고 각 변인 간의 상관관계를 분석하여 한국어 교육에 적용할 수 있는 방안을 찾고자 하였다. 이를 위해 프랑스 고등학생 한국어 학습자 73명을 대상으로 설문조사를 실시하였으며 결과에 대해서 SPSS(Version 23)를 이용하여 통계분석을 하였다. 프랑스 고등학생이 한국어를 학습하는 이유로는 내적 동기가 가장 높았으며 다음으로 통합적 동기, 도구적 동기, 외적 동기 순으로 나타났다. 언어학습 전략으로는 상위인지 전략 사용이 가장 높았고, 사회적 전략, 인지전략, 기억 전략, 보상 전략, 정의적 전략 순으로 나타났다. 내적 동기는 정의적 전략을 제외한 모든 전략과 유의미한 양적 상관관계를 보이는 것으로 확인되었고, 통합적 동기는 모든 종류의 전략과 유의미한 상관관계를 보였다. 한국어에 대한 태도, 한국어 학습에 대한 적극성 또한 모든 종류의 전략과 유의미한 상관관계를 나타냈다. 소셜미디어 사용은 모든 종류의 전략과 유의미한 양적 상관관계에 있는 것이 확인되었다. 프랑스 고등학교 한국어 학습자는 통합적 동기가 높을수록, 한국어에 대하여 학습자의 태도가 긍정적일수록, 한국어 수업시간이나 개인 학습시간에 적극적일수록, 소셜미디어에서 한국어 사용이 활발한 학습자일수록 언어학습 전략을 더 많이 사용할 것이라는 점을 예측할 수 있다.

Mahytec installs hydrogen infrastructure in French high schools

Mahytec installs hydrogen infrastructure in French high schools

Descriptions of the Resistance in the French History Textbooks, 1962~2015

This article attempts to analyze descriptions of the Resistance in the history textbooks of the French high schools during the period of 1962 to 2015 to examine the history education on the crucial subject in post-war France. An overwhelming superiority of De Gaulle and Gaullist Resistance figured prominently in the writings. This superiority does not seem to coincide with the historical facts, considering that the influence of the Gaullist Resistance represented by ‘Free France’ was quite limited in the early years of the German occupation, Resistance organizations at home were very lately integrated into a large one under the leadership of De Gaulle, and the domestic Resistance suffered much more dangers and casualties than the Resistance abroad.BR While the history of the French Resistance was described mainly in military terms and focused on a few major organizations in the textbooks of the 1960s and 1970s, since the 1990s the textbooks emphasized the various motives of joining the Resistance, the different social statuses, political tendencies of its members, and their diverse activities, and included abundant supplementary materials such as documents, photos, posters, and etc. In spite of these changes, even since the 1990s they seldom dealt with the negative aspects including sympathetic attitude of several earlier Resistance groups towards the Vichy government, the internal conflicts of the Resistance, and so on.BR With the emphasis on De Gaulle’s role, these omissions of the negative aspects partly arose from an attribute of the secondary history education that tended to inspire adolescents with national pride. However, it is indispensable to be cautious about the danger of mythicizing and distorting the history of the Resistance.

The treatment effect of grade repetitions

ABSTRACTThis paper estimates the treatment effect of grade repetitions in French junior high schools, using a value-added test score as outcome and quarter of birth as instrument. With linear two-stage least squares, local average treatment effect is estimated at around 1.6 times the standard deviation of the achievement gain. With non-linear full-information maximum likelihood, average treatment on the treated ranges between one and one-quarter of the standard deviation of the outcome. Grade repetition in junior high school is also shown to increase the probability of graduating from junior high school by 2.5 probability points.

L’ouverture à l’internationale par un diplôme binational : le BachiBac

Abitur, Esabac, BachiBac: three binational diplomas that open the way to the internationalization of studies and professions, allowing young people to get to know the language and culture of another European country. ESP has devoted, in the past, one article to the “Abitur” and two to the “Esabac”. The present contribution on the binational Franco-Spanish diploma “BachiBac” completes the trilogy. We questioned teachers and pupils in three French high-schools that prepare pupils for the diploma : Lycee Arago in Perpignan, Lycee Eugene Delacroix in Maisons-Alfort and Lycee Albert Camus in Bois-Colombes, near Paris.

Tuned in to the Earth … from the school EduSismo: the French educational seismological network

Abstract Earthquakes are both troubling and fascinating because of their suddenness, the terrible destruction they can wreak and because they still remain unpredictable. This is why emphasis must be placed on preparation, especially in the school system where causes and effects of these hazards are studied. But trying to explain earthquakes, scrutinizing the earth’s depths, taking on the planet internal dynamics… entail moving into the inaccessible. In this respect seismology is a source of complexity and fascination. Scientific culture is thus at the heart of seismic risk instruction. All of this is in what the “SISMOS à l’École” curriculum is involved, by implementing an educational program that allows a natural risk culture to be engaged through a scientific and technological approach. The original and innovative aspect of this programme stems from giving students the opportunity to install a seismometer in their school. The recorded signals, reflecting regional or global seismic activity, feed into an on-line database, a genuine seismic resource centre and a springboard for educational and scientific activities. The network ‘EduSismo’ (numbering some sixty stations installed in metropolitan France, the overseas departments and territories and a few French high schools abroad) is the outgrowth of an experiment conducted in the Alpes-Maritimes area some twelve years back. Since then, the programme implemented has gone beyond simply acquiring seismic signals, which has been procured by research and monitoring centres. By appropriating a scientific measurement, the student becomes personally involved and masters complex concepts about geophysics and geosciences. The development of simple devices and the design of concrete experiments associated with an investigative approach make it possible to instill the students, these future citizens, a high-quality scientific culture and an education about risks. Today, this programme is expanding. New initiatives with Italian, British and Swiss partners are being put in place to share experiences and data in Europe.

A multidisciplinary investigation of aquatic pollution and how to minimise it

The impact of humans on aquatic systems is covered in French high schools in the ‘Première’ level (ages 16 to 17) by students studying economics and social sciences. We designed experiments to teach critical thinking about water pollution and how citizens can act to minimise it. The experimental session, which lasts three consecutive days, takes place in a non‐profit public training centre for experimental science located within a research institute. The classroom is divided into groups of four to seven students, and each group is tutored by a PhD student. High school students are presented with results from publications on fish mutations, develop hypotheses, perform experiments and discuss their results, just as researchers do in their daily work. Students learn to ask and answer the following questions on the biological, chemical, economic and social aspects of water pollution: What are the origins of biological and chemical pollutants in an aquatic ecosystem? How can the population be made aware of aquatic pollution? How can the willingness of the local population to pay for the protection of their regional ecosystem be evaluated? At the end of the experimental session, each group of students prepares a poster presentation and discusses with an external expert.

Sociology in French High Schools: The Challenge of Teaching Social Issues

The aim of the article is to answer the question of what kind of sociology teaching is provided in French lycees. It describes and characterises a state of affairs that has resulted from a process of evolution. The article engages with the wider question of curriculum change, using the tools of sociology to tackle the issue. It illustrates the power of ‘school subjects’ as institutional forms, just as it reveals their composite and socially constituted nature. It highlights the role of teachers in shaping the changes in the content of this subject, including at the level of the formal curriculum Cet article cherche a caracteriser la sociologie qui est enseignee dans les lycees francais. Il decrit un etat de choses en evolution. Ce faisant il aborde, avec les outils de la sociologie du curriculum, la vaste question des changements des curricula. Il montre la pregnance de la forme sociale « discipline scolaire » et le caractere a la fois socialement construit et composite des savoirs qu’elle peut contenir. Il eclaire le role, souvent meconnu, des professeurs dans la determination des contenus enseignes y compris ceux qui sont prescrits.

Report on the auditing of social and economic science textbooks and syllabuses for French high schools

Education Minister Xavier Darcos entrusted the Commission with the task of “examining the content of social and economic science textbooks for high schools, to ensure that they were consistent with the objectives and content of syllabuses and with the plurality of currents of thinking constituting the field of social and economic science, and to verify the quality of the educational tools used”. The Minister’s letter requested that “particular attention” be paid to “the approach to the study ...

What Is Literature For?

This article begins with a critical analysis of the way literature is taught in French high schools today and attributes the shortcomings of this method to the predominant conception of literature as a self-sufficient object without any relevant relationship to the surrounding world. This conception is also widespread outside of school among critics and even writers. This is an unnecessarily restricted view; in fact literature helps us to better understand the world and lead more meaningful lives.

Cannabis use, beliefs about 'hard drugs' and 'soft drugs', and the ineffectiveness of anti-drug interventions in French high-schools

Objective To study drug-related beliefs among adolescents, and specifically their propensity to distinguish 'soft drugs' from 'hard drugs'; to investigate factors associated with such a propensity as well as its relationship with cannabis use. Design & setting A cross-sectional self-administered survey conducted among a random sample of 5,812 French high-school pupils. Method A score was designed for assessing respondents' propensity to distinguish 'soft' from 'hard' drugs. The correlates were studied, and then used to model various levels of cannabis use. Separate analyses were performed for boys and girls. Results The propensity to distinguish 'soft drugs' from 'hard drugs' was tightly associated with cannabis use. For both genders, exposure to preventive information during a course, or through posters or booklets had no impact on such a propensity, and indeed attending a conference on drugs reinforced this propensity among boys. For both genders, this propensity was also strongly associated with cannabis use, and exposure to anti-drug information through a specific lecture was positively associated with cannabis experimentation. Conclusion The effectiveness of preventive information in French high schools is highly questionable, especially when it endorses an unbalanced 'anti-drug' discourse that may even boomerang. As cannabis use and related beliefs are probably built together and reinforce each other, one should neither overestimate the impact of beliefs on behaviours, nor underestimate users' adherence to such beliefs.

“I'm not in the best educational establishment, so what?” Effects of membership in more or less prestigious educational establishments on intergroup perceptions

The present study tests the assumption that the stable vs. unstable character of the structural relationship between groups influences the type of bias to which differentiation may lead, and affects the likelihood of identification with one's ingroup. Study 1 was conducted in Canada with university students and Study 2 in two French highschools; they both measured the impact of membership in a prestigious vs. a non-prestigious group on intergroup perceptions. In the Canadian sample, the structural relationship between groups was unstable, in a way that status asymmetry due to prestige differences might in time be eased out to the advantage of the less prestigious group. In the French study, the structural relationship was stable and not likely to evolve. As predicted, data from both samples' prestigious groups demonstrate a clear ingroup bias. Students from the less prestigious Canadian university situated in an ascending movement did not judge their competencies as lower than those of the prestigious university students, and further expressed the wish to enrol their children in their own university rather than the prestigious university. As expected, data collected from French high school students in the less prestigious study programme demonstrate a clear outgroup bias. Contrary to the initial hypothesis, in Canada, the prestigious university students identify less strongly with their ingroup than the less prestigious university students. This effect may be interpreted as participants distancing themselves from their ingroup prototype and it was also observed in the students of the prestigious study programme in the French high schools.

The hardest thing is the habit: a qualitative investigation of adolescent smokers' experience of nicotine dependence

The aims were to explore adolescent smokers' understanding and their physiological and psychological experience of addiction to nicotine and to assess the content validity of the Hooked on Nicotine Checklist (HONC), a 10-item measure of nicotine dependence in youth. Six focus group interviews were conducted with male and female smokers recruited by school staff from among known smokers at one English and two French high schools in Montreal. Participants were 64 high-school students aged 14-17 years. Measurements were focus group discussion of smoking patterns and levels for self and others; feelings and sensations while smoking; physical and mental experiences of urges, feelings and sensations when smoking is prohibited; the physical, psychological, and social meanings of being hooked, dependent, or addicted; levels of dependence, desire to quit, and quit attempts. Participants readily identified nicotine dependence as relevant to their smoking experience. Dependence was described as the need to smoke, sometimes experienced as sensations of emptiness in the chest or blood and sometimes as a feeling in the mind. Smoking urges were often situationally determined and associated with hunger. With the exception of feeling sad, blue, or depressed on smoking withdrawal, participants endorsed almost all the symptoms in the HONC as relevant to their experience of dependence and identified several other symptoms as well. Adolescents are able to provide self-reports of symptoms of dependence that are consistent with a theoretically driven conceptualization of nicotine dependence. The HONC demonstrates content validity among adolescents but could be improved through removal of the item related to depression on withdrawal and possibly addition of items related to stress and appetite.