Contenu du sommaire : L'enseignement de l'économie : conflits, débats et controverses

A history and sociology of teaching economics
This questions the evolution of the content used to teach economics, both at schools and universities, according to a fruitful approach with regard to the conflicts, debates and controversies which have accompanied it. The chosen point of view is both historical and international, with a particular focus on countries in which economics has been taught the longest. The contributions offer socio-historical analyses and the testimonies of the actors of these debates. They demonstrate the existence of oppositions against the finalities of this teaching in counter to a trend, equally present, of making it a training for experts, in compliance with a “united states” model implemented and disseminated after the war.

What to teach beginner students ? The lessons introducing economics in the middle of the 20th century in the United StatesAt the end of the 19th century, American economists made economics a field of research, anchoring their professional identity in the American Economics Association (AEA). Despite there being rival schools, university lessons and manuals between 1890 and 1920 followed the same format based on general principles inspired by Marshall (1890). In the 1930s, there was increased criticism of theoretical teaching and a large umber of alternative proposals were submitted. In the 1950s, the AEA created a Teaching and Training Committee but their report was not very conclusive. The discussions that it generated were dominated by the young generation's growing adoption of the macroeconomic approach. A theoretical and analytical manual, Economics : an Introductory Analysis (Samuelson 1948) which was favourable to government intervention via economic policies, was a de facto compromise. It did not support the reorientation initiated by criticism and instead reinforced economics as a distinct field, a superior science due to its abstraction and quantification capacities, and one which did not integrate sociological, anthropological, psychological and political science analyses. Thus, economics teaching must neither contribute to the training of citizens nor favour their engagement in the development of policy, but instead forge new experts.

Genesis of the economics teaching integrated into social sciences in French secondary schools between 1964 and 1966The article retraces the debates which occurred between 1964 and 1966 regarding the introduction by the Fouchet reform of Economic Sciences in secondary schools. It underlines at what point this emergence was linked to the specialisations of secondary school teaching and baccalaureate selection. It shows the active resistances of other disciplines, in particular philosophy. It analyses how the move towards social sciences was successful due to the political will of the ministry and the support it received from scientists in its field, but also from teacher unions.

Stakes and tensions regarding secondary school reform (2010-2012) in economic and social sciences
The internal dispute between teachers of the discipline regarding the secondary school reform (2010-2012) of economic and social sciences is analysed. Two networks were in opposition : the APSES, a formal association and the informal Didac-ES. If their members condemned the intrusion of the corporate world into the construction of curricula in secondary classes, they were opposed on two points. APSES believed it should be taught as an integrated academic discipline, whilst Didac-ES believed it was two separate disciplines : economics and sociology. Nevertheless, these two positions neither defined nor summarised the diversity of teaching practices.

Teaching economics in secondary schools in Germany : a quarrel between the old school and modernists ?This article explores the history and the legitimatisation of economics “to be taught” in Germany. Contrary to France, school education is not the pillar of the German civil and social model, which above all targets the person, his or her intellectual plenitude, his or her economic and professional success. Secondary school subjects are not clearly related to disciplines. Differently from the academic field, the pedagogical field of SES is pluri-disciplinary and each Länder develops its own courses. The crisis of a curricular form which had been stable since the 1970s – economics as an integral part of the teaching of social sciences – made it possible to analyse its current state, via the contribution of different actors : didacticians, management, unions, foundations. Orientated by the logic of expertise, it reflects how it operates and has values far beyond the academic arena - finance, the corporate world. The key objective of regulating behaviour is instrumentalised in order to adapt human resources to globalisation. The transformation of the economic content of teaching gives it a pronounced regulatory nature. The use of economic education for political purposes shifts the analysis of the social economy towards the market as a social order ; it matches the political claims of different actors and the ideologies of diverse doctrinal horizons.

Teaching economics at the crossroads of reforms : are we capable of seizing the occasion ?
Observing how the teaching of economics has failed to explain the current economy, to understand the financial crisis, to solve chronic problems such as poverty, to prepare students to find solutions to future issues such as climate change and to be capable of listening, dialoguing and working with others, the author aspires to shift economics towards a pluralism, at the polar opposite of traditional teaching in which an “expert” transmits ready-made knowledge to passive students. If one of the aims of education is to explain the past in order to understand the present, conceptualising problems and finding efficient solutions for them, then teaching must be anchored in the experience of students so that they can understand what they are learning and take an active part in the process of their own growth. In order to develop their critical spirit, they must be exposed to different points of view, for if they are subjected to a single ideology, their creativity and intellectual development will be stunted. Economic sciences can clarify problems and offer solutions, as long as they renew themselves and encourage pluralism and collaboration with the other social sciences. Plurality will reintroduce modesty, cooperation and dialogue, a long-term failing.

The “Autism-Economics” movement (2000-2001) : an intellectual victory, a political defeat
The author analyses the failure, despite the power of the arguments and powerful mobilisation, of the student movement for the reform of economics teaching (MEPRE) entitled “Autism-economics” which, in 2000-2001 violently contested the dominant teaching of microeconomics, by denouncing the lack of realism in lessons and researchers enclosed in their imaginary worlds rendering them autistic. He studies the pertinence of the claims, the university, media and international echoes of the initial open letter to “Professors and education managers” who regretted that theory “is rarely based on facts”, refused to let mathematic formalisation become an end in itself and claimed “a pluralism of approaches in economics” when confronted with neoclassical theory. He observes that the Autism-Economics movement reached its apogee due to the mobilisation and work which was carried out (Fitoussi report, 2001), but that reform never occurred. He puts forward reasons –the careers of teacher-researchers, the erasure of teaching in favour research– and tried to find levers of change whilst the mobilisation remains intense.

An ambiguous priority ? The social democrats and education in France and Great Britain (1970-2000)Education is one of the major centres of interest of the social democratic movements both in France (the Socialist Party) and in Great Britain (the Labour Party). This specific relationship between educational issues and multiple explanations is rooted in the history of these organisations (attachment to the emancipating character of knowledge, the over representation of teachers in the Labour Party and above all in the Socialist Party). Thus, this article attempts to study the paradoxes of “priority to education” which are as important to the French Socialist Party as they are to the Labour Party. If this claim appears to have stabilised over time (giving the image of a greater continuity), it masks the significant mutations which have occurred since the 1970s. These concern these parties' programs, the policies which have been carried out and relations with educational personnel.

Unification of the agricultural teaching branches and diversity of academic institutions : a positive effect in terms of reducing inequalities ?A lot of sociological work highlights the structuration of vocational teaching by academic branch. But does this not just lead to a structuration by type of academic institution ? This is the hypothesis suggested by this research on agricultural teaching. Statistical data focusing on the social origins and academic trajectories of students from two large families of private academic institutions (the Rural Family Houses and the National Council of Private Agricultural Education), cross-referenced with results from an ethnographic survey on relations at school, knowledge and the professional internships of students, objectify the fact that there is a sorting of populations during recruitment. If a plurality of training for the same diploma is greatly encouraged today, these surveys do not prove this model's efficiency.

Understanding the dysfunctions of an artistic partnership project : opera at schools
Art in the classroom effects both students and teachers. Can the pleasure generated by the “Opera at school” project at primary schools also improve teachers' well-being in the classroom ? The analysis of the dysfunctions encountered all along the implementation of a project enabled an in-depth investigation. Problematic situations were noted and collected by the observation of meetings between teachers and artists and via individual interviews. The study shows that it was difficult for the teachers to take on board the artistic aspect due to their deep attachment to the values of an academic form which prevents them from being liberated by an artistic expression.

University tuition fees and social justice : the English example
In England, how are the financial stakes of higher education and the objectives of social justice articulated ? Does the significant increase in university tuition fees, up to £11,000, have a negative impact on the equality of opportunities with regard to access to higher education ? How was this system designed ? Already in 1965, universities were against a policy expanding higher education. To coerce them, the government used the polytechnics to reform the universities and subject them to the same requirements. New Labour which came to power at the end of the 1990s, promoted a strategy of encouraging working class children to got to university. Focusing on aspiring students, its policy targeted a continuous improvement in social mobility. The increase in university tuition fees therefore became a means of supplying the necessary resources to achieve this objective. Fifteen years later, significant results have been obtained.