The State of Educational Research in France

Brigitte Gruson,
Association des Enseignants et Chercheurs en Sciences de l'Education (AECSE)
June 2012

The association celebrated its 40th anniversary in December 2010, which means that is it now 42 years old. On that occasion a special event was organized in Paris at La Sorbonne University. About 100 of people attended the event.

For the university year 2011 – 2012, there were 336 members. Any teacher, teacher-trainer,  doctoral student or researcher interested in research in education and training, regardless of academic discipline can become a member. Most researchers, who are members, belong to the 70th section of the University National Committee (UCN) and teach in French universities or other institutions of higher education.

The goal of AECSE is to facilitate exchange and reflection in the field of educational sciences.  It regularly conducts work reflecting on research in education and training, on teacher training and other professional sectors relying on education, life in schools, social work, families and education, health and education, adult learning, orientation and professional counselling, etc.  AESCE is a body that both proposes and clarifies educational debates through a scientific approach and disseminates information related to research on education, training and teaching.

Right now its main challenge is to stand up for the role of the "Educational Science" field in national debates as teacher education is being redefined.

The main activity of the AECSE is to organise scientific events at national and international levels. It organises four thematic seminars a year on Saturday mornings in Paris. During these meetings,  themes such as  “Being a researcher and a teacher in the 21st century in Europe”, “Being a “professional” phd students” or “Networks in Educational research” are discussed.  It holds its General Assembly each year in January.

In 2011, it organised a conference called "Crise et/en éducation" together with a research team "Crise, École, Terrains sensibles", member of the research centre "CREF" from Nanterre-La Défense University (Paris 10). This year, it is co-organising the bi-annual congress AREF (Actualité de la Recherche en Education et en Formation) conference that will take place in Paul-Valéry University, Montpellier 3 from August 27-30, 2013 together with two other European associations: ABC-Educ (Belgium) and SSRE (Switzerland).

More information on the congress is availbale <link http: www.aref2013.univ-montp2.fr cod6 _blank external link in new>here.

The AECSE council also organises surveys, collects information so as to follow the development of the field in France.

The AECSE council is composed of an executive board, constituted of two co-Presidents, a treasurer and a secretary general, and of 16 people coming from universities and higher education institutes situated all over France. For the current mandate, one of the co-presidents was Marie-Christine Presse, who stepped out in January 2013, the other one is Yvan Abernot assisted by a treasurer, Pascal Roquet, and a secretary general is Nassira Hedjerassi. Its has no permanent member. It is structured in five committees coordinated by a  council member:

- Curriculum, population and Research Centres in ES: MP. Chopin

- Teacher Education: T. Perez-Roux  

- International relationships: B. Gruson

- The association archives: F. Laot

- PhD committee: a new coordinator is to be nominated soon

The AECSE keeps an updated <link http: www.aecse.net _blank external link in new>website and periodically sends out a newsletter to current and past members, which means that about 1,400 people located in France and abroad receive the AECSE newsletter every two months.The website offers a collection of resources and services, notably a directory of members, as well as reflective articles and a discussion forum open to all. Members can list their publications on the site. Job listings in the educational sciences, in France and abroad, are also collected and published.

Some information about the state of educational research in France

In France educational research mainly takes place in universities and in particular in IUFM (Institut Universitaire de Formation des maîtres) that are faculties of education. There are 32 IUFM, that is one institute per academy, including the five academies located overseas. The CDIUFM (the directors' conference) brings together the thirty-two directors of the university institutes for teacher training. It is recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research.

In addition, educational research is also conducted in the CNRS (national centre for scientific research), which was created in 1939. The National Center for Scientific Research is a government-funded research organization, under the administrative authority of France's Ministry of Research. Its has the following missions:

- To evaluate and carry out all research capable of advancing knowledge and bringing social, cultural, and economic benefits for society.

- To contribute to the application and promotion of research results.

- To develop scientific information.

- To support research training.

- To participate in the analysis of the national and international scientific climate and its potential for evolution in order to develop a national policy.

As the largest fundamental research organization in Europe, CNRS carried out research in all fields of knowledge, through its seven institutes among which we find the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (INSHS). CNRS encourages collaboration between specialists from different disciplines in particular with the university thus opening up new fields of enquiry to meet social and economic needs. CNRS laboratories (or research units) are located throughout France, and employ a large body of tenured researchers, engineers, and support staff.

More specifically, educational research is conducted at the French Institute of Education (in French, Ifé). With a legacy of five decades of experience, Ifé’s research is expanding through interaction with other departments of the institute (training, education quality agency, department for knowledge mediation) and with the research section of the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon.

Ifé’s research is characterized by seven key features:

• Fundamental research, with the objective of describing and understanding educational processes in all their dimensions;

• Applied research, which aims to supply the necessary tools and reference resources to those involved in education;

• Participative research, which involves, at every stage of the research process, practitioners (more than 600 teachers are involved in IFÉ’s research teams);

• Interdisciplinary research, which combines various contributions such as didactic, sociological, historical, psychological, anthropological, philosophical, etc.;

• Wide-ranging research, which considers education and training in all their dimensions (from nursery school to university and throughout every stage of life) and in a variety of contexts (at schools, in associations, informal, etc.);

• Research that looks at the long-term process, such as apprenticeships, the development of curricula and of educational systems;

• Research that is part of a network of partnerships and collaborations, at national, European and worldwide scales.

The main source of financial support for educational research is the national agency for research (<link http: www.agence-nationale-recherche.fr _blank external link in new>ANR: Agence Nationale de la Recherche). This agency launches several calls a year in a great variety of  disciplinary and multidisciplinary fields. Other sources of support can be found more locally near regional authorities, universities and federative research organisations.