Innovation, reform, experimentation in education: an historical perspective (17th-21st centuries)
In the field of education, the reference to innovation is not particularly recent, and we find for example several occurrences of the term, or its derivatives, in the Dictionary of Pedagogy and Primary Instruction directed by Ferdinand Buisson (1882-1887). However, it did not have the status of a normative concept that tends to prevail today, especially in international organizations such as the OECD (CERI, 2021). At a time when innovation is becoming a panacea for the education system (Cros, 2013), the historical perspective allows for a critical approach to innovation.
How far can we, without anachronism, think of the various transformations of the school as innovations, or, in general (including outside the school) the educational norms that have known the «modern» world since the 17th century (Grandière and Lahalle, 2004)? What relationship does the concept of innovation have with others that may seem related to it? For example with that of experience or experimentation? We think in particular of the «experience» of the "Classes nouvelles" (new classes) in France from 1945 to 1951, or the experimentation of secondary schools (CES) without tracks, initiated at the National Educational Institute (IPN) by Louis Legrand from 1967. Or with reform, whether structural reforms such as the 1959 Berthoin ordinance extending compulsory education, or reforms aimed at transforming pedagogical practices?
Historians have paid little attention to the ways in which reforms and innovations are circular (Cros, 1997). As we know, any educational change cannot necessarily be considered a reform (Robert, 2007; Prost, 2013). But is all reform innovation? And is all innovation reform? On the contrary, can innovation not be understood as the antonym of the reform,
to the extent that it contains the idea of an alternative, pedagogical or «technical», free from any axiological or normative horizon (Lescouarch & Vergnon, 2018). Is not the desire to innovate, to preserve an organization, an order, while seeking precisely to improve it? Is innovation only a matter of the material order of educational devices, where the reforms are characterized by the novelty of the purposes they pursue?
Under these conditions, is it not necessary to make at least the effort to qualify innovation, distinguishing for example technical innovation from social innovation (Cros, 1997)? Is it fundamentally different when it comes from the field, and can we describe these approaches as innovations even when practitioners rediscover old ideas and devices? Is this role of the field accentuated by the degree of decentralization of educational policies? Can there then be territories that are reticent or favourable to reforms and what scales (local, regional, national or international) can be relevant to understand the dynamics of change?
In addition, emerging concepts, such as involution, re-examine the notion of change in education, suggesting the possibility of a regression to an earlier state, for example, because of the increasing difficulties of the teaching profession or because of the too great complexity of the tasks entrusted to the school. Does not the injunction to innovation, often paradoxical in a hyper-normed school setting, then draw a form of involution (Buttier & Collet, 2021)?
The question of the relationship between reform, experience and innovation also calls for consideration to be given to the role of the actors, initiators or receivers of the changes desired or undergone, and national policies such as local anchorages that facilitate or impede their adoption.
Will be expected proposals problematic categories convened (Innovation, reform, experimentation) and not being simply descriptive or illustrative. Particular attention will be paid to proposals relating to the modern period.
Three axes are proposed:
A pedagogical axis (axis 1). Changes in educational content or transmission methods will be explored here, with reference to the categories of reform, experimentation or innovation. Tools (such as the work plan) as well as historical figures (such as Jean-Baptiste de la Salle) or educational movements (such as Scouting) can be examined both in their intentions for change and in their dissemination.
A political axis (axis 2), analysing the interplay of forces and counterforces at work in the educational processes of transformations and the positions of the different actors (diversity of national educational models, resistance on the part of the public authorities to reform actions undertaken at the grassroots level, or on the contrary resistance on the ground to an innovative will driven “from above”, respective national, regional and local places, etc.). Proposals comparing international situations will find their place in this axis. It may also include critical questioning, or even deconstruction of innovation as a public policy taxonomy.
A focus on the materiality of the schemes (axis 3) and their different territorial anchorages will question both the “technical” conditions of the innovation processes and the networks of actors involved in their implementation (pedagogical movements, school teams, disciplinary associations, parents' associations, local authorities, etc.). The methods of dissemination of the change can also be discussed in this axis.
These different orientations can be developed in the school field as well as in other fields, for example adult education, special education, inadequate childhood, etc.
Communications proposals must:
(1) Indicate the axis to which they will relate.
(2) Have an explicit historical dimension, that is, describe the corpus of sources processed and specify the periodization envisaged.
(3) Be composed of a maximum of 1500 signs including keywords (no more than 5) and a short bibliography (no more than 4 titles).
Bibliographic orientations:
Buttier, J.-C. & Collet, I. (dir.) (2021). « Dévolution, révolution ou involution : entre engagement et neutralité en formation institutionnelle », Raisons éducatives, n°28.
CERI (Centre pour la recherche et l’innovation dans l’enseignement) (2021), « Les projets du CERI pour l’innovation en éducation », publication en ligne sur le site de l’OCDE.
Cros, F. (1997). « L’innovation en éducation et en formation », Revue française de pédagogie, n°118, p. 127-156.
Cros, F. (2013). « De l’initiative à l’expérimentation : la longue vie du soutien à l’innovation », Les Sciences de L’éducation - Pour l’Ère Nouvelle, n°46, p. 63–88.
Grandière, M. & Lahalle, A. (dir.) (2004). L'innovation dans l'enseignement français (XVIe-XXe siècle). Nantes, Lyon : SCEREN CRDP Pays de la Loire/INRP.
Lescouarch, L. Vergnon, M. (2018). « Innover en éducation : enjeux et tensions », Journée scientifique « Innovations : l’approche des pédagogies et structures alternatives » coorganisation CIRNEF – CEMÉA- FESPI- Espé Caen, 18 mai 2018, p. 5-10.
Prost, A. (2013). Du changement dans l'École. Les Réformes de l'éducation de 1936 à nos jours, Paris, Seuil.
Robert, A. D. (2007). « La IVe République et les questions de l’égalité et de la justice dans l’enseignement du second degré : le changement sans la réforme », Revue française de pédagogie, n°159, p. 81-92.
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