Abstract
The path of education for citizenship at school in France has been long, complex and tumultuous. Following the French Revolution, control of the education system became a battleground between the Republicans and the clergy. Subsequently, the Republicans successfully secured control of the education system and introduced instruction civique at school in order to prepare the young French to fit Republican ideals. Education for citizenship took a significant turn when Jules Ferry made public education free, mandatory and laïque (secular). Since then laicïté (French secularism) has been the pillar of education and education for citizenship at school in France. However, the composition of French society changed significantly with the arrival of Muslims – mostly from former French colonies and protectorates – who feel alienated in their own county because of high unemployment, racism and discrimination. School became the place where they challenged and contested laicïté over the issues of the headscarf and religious symbols, as well as the teaching of religion at school.
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Notes
- 1.
Named after Mohamed Merah, a young French Muslim of Algerian heritage, who shot and killed seven people in March 2012 in a series of gun attacks in Toulouse and Mantauban in France.
- 2.
These challenges in banlieues are captured by popular movies such as La Haine by Mathieu Kassovitz (1995); Entre Les Murs by Laurent Cantet (2008) and Les Roses Noires by Helene Milano (2011), to name but a few.
- 3.
- 4.
Henceforth, we use Grande Mobilisation.
- 5.
Speech delivered by the Minister of National Education Najat Vallaud-Belkacem on 22 January 2015.
- 6.
MEN: Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale (Ministry of National Education).
- 7.
We are aware of the arbitrariness of the division. We have adopted this division into three periods to simplify and summarize a long and complex history, as the focus of the article is on the major ideas and debates that have shaped and influenced education for citizenship at school.
- 8.
Legislation of 22 March 1882 made education ‘obligatoire et laïque’ (mandatory and laïque).
- 9.
Bulletin officiel de l’Éducation Nationale (Official Bulletin of National Education) 20 May 1948.
- 10.
In the Francophone education system, Seconde is equivalent to Year 11, Première to Year 12, and Terminale is the last year before university.
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
Communautarisme roughly means the grouping of people or affiliations based on common identity considerations such language, culture, religions, and the like. In France, these are generally perceived to be divisive and a threat to Republican values.
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Diallo, I., Embarki, M., Abdallah, K.B. (2016). Education for Citizenship at School in France: Trajectory, Tensions and Contradictions. In: Peterson, A., Hattam, R., Zembylas, M., Arthur, J. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of Education for Citizenship and Social Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51507-0_19
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