Contenu du sommaire : Sociologie de l'éducation (I)

Jacques Testaniere : Traditional and anomic misbehavior in secondary schools. In spite of its negative aspects, misbehavior fulfils a function in the traditional process of learning. However, the admission into secondary schools of students from different social backgrounds provokes a gradual disappearance of traditional misbehavior, which is replaced by forms of disorder not previously manifested, expressing an anomie caused by the widening of the base of recruitment to secondary education. This anomic misbehavior is accompanied by disturbance of the process of learning. The effects of democratizing recruitment suggests questionning traditional teaching methods and the organisation of the school system in order to promote true democratisation of education.

Jacqueline Chobaux : A system of pedagogical norms : the Official Instructions. An analysis of the Official Instructions given to elementary public schools in France from 1887 to nowadays, including two parts. The first part describes the historical record of the successive instructions, their elaboration process and the essential characteristics which result from it ; the second part exposes the educational content of the instructions considered as a system of norms. Three categories of norms are analysed : those concerning the aims of elementary teaching ; those concerning the nature of the child and at last those concerning the teacher-pupil relationship. As a conclusion, are given some elements about the role played by these instructions in the school reality.

Viviane Isambert-Jamati : Continuity or variation of the aims sought by the lycée in one hundred years. Are the aims of secondary French education as monolithic and unchangeable as one often presumes ? If they are not, how can one explain their variations ? In answer to the first question, the author analyses the contents of the speeches given in the lycée from 1860 to the present ; the choice of dates and the grouping of the results was inspired by Simiand's method of « temporal cuts ». Some of the examples given reveal important diachronic and synchronie variations. In answer to the second question, the author compares the variations of the factors analysed with a series of external phenomena and as much as possible with the internal variations of the factors themselves.

has a separate place. The changes which have affected the socialist society, with its controls and goals, can be outlined through the evolution of the educational system. The traditional function of secondary education, in most countries is a station between a generalized primary education and a selective university education. The Soviet regime has substituted a double task : a supply of personnel for the economy and the advancement of a new human type, the communist man. From one reform to another, one sees the realization of a general cycle, long enough for the first task to be completed, and at the same time, one sees the original hierarchy of values carried forward by the socialist school.

Noëlle Gerome : An organizational study in the sociology of education : in a French province. This is a study of the influence of organizational patterns on the dynamics of school systems. An attempt has been made to discover the relationship between the institutional framework of primary French education to the groups which are supposed to help it, support it, complete it or promote it. (Unions, Parents associations, Cultural associations etc.) The graphs show the relationships within the groups and between these groups and to the public school administration ; and reveal the existence of a homogeneous structure characterized by the predominance of two associations (a strong teachers union, adhered to by the majority, the S.N.I., and a cultural association, the Education League). Both have strong ties to the public school system and use the fact that the majority of primary school teachers are members of their organizations, to influence the Board of Education, which in turn sponsors their organizations.

Monique Segré-Brun et Lucie Tanguy : What unit of analysis should be used to explain the geographical variations in school attendance? The relationship between certain factors (socio-professional composition, degree of urbanisation, family-size) and school attendance is not the same for every department. The great difference between North and South, makes it more feasible to deal with the departmental variations in terms of regional differences. No matter what criterion are used to define the region, the adjacent departments tend toward a similar school attendance pattern. A model of regression analysis points out that this similarity in school attendance can be attributed, in part, to other socio-economic characteristics in the department, but cannot be completely explained by these factors.

Alain Darbel : Regional or social inequalities? An attempt to explain dropout rates in secondary education. Local differences in drop-out rates in secondary education appear to be explained by a simple model. If one assumes that an individual's behavior is determined by the « play » of probabilities of success, that is, by experiences and aspirations derived from his social class and his reference group, contradictions between the approach assuming general social determinism and that of particular ecological determinism tend to disappear. A mathematical model is used to verify the theoretical propositions, while recognising that regional inequalities sometimes mask fundamental social inequalities. Finally, this model has wider application in other economic and social fields.