Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 December 2016
Introduction
This chapter examines teacher unionism in France. Contrary to most other cases highlighted in this book, France stands out with its highly centralized education system (Cole 2001) and longstanding (but never fully realized) attachment to the principle of educational egalitarianism (Baudelot and Establet 2009; Dobbins and Martens 2012). By exploring the structural foundations of French teacher unions and their strategies vis-à-vis the state, this chapter shows how teacher unionism has stymied government reform proposals time and time again. Through concerted action and the exploitation of their internal differences, teachers unions have played a crucial role in upholding central pillars of French secondary education such as low institutional autonomy, centralization, and high expenditure. Thus, French teacher unionism presents a fascinating case for analysts of interest group power.
I first discuss the historical rise of teacher unionism in France, before addressing the striking diversity of the teacher union landscape. The bulk of the analysis focuses on how teachers unions interact not only with the state bureaucracy, but also with each other, labour unions and other educational stakeholders. I also elaborate on the strategies of French teachers unions in public sector strikes, which have served to frustrate government reform efforts for decades. As shown below, French teachers unions have applied inward pressure, i.e. through educational “co-management” within the ministerial bureaucracy; and outward pressure, i.e. through concerted strikes, to assert their vested interests. Altogether, the analysis shows that educational policy-making distinguishes itself substantially from other policy areas in France, in which policy-making tends to be of a more hierarchical nature.
Historical Development
Teacher unions emerged simultaneously with the construction of the centralized school system during the Third Republic (1870–1940) (Ambler 1985: 28), thus earlier than many other countries discussed in this book. The strong centralization of education essentially was the result of a power struggle between the central government and religious interests at the local level, a struggle in which the central government asserted itself. The argument prevailed that a centralized school system would ensure nationwide equality and fend off local religious influences and “territorial solidarities” (Ambler 1994; Cole 2001; Lelièvre 2000: 8).
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.