Trois leçons sur l’école républicaine by Eric Maurin
In his latest book, Eric Maurin questions with the tools of economists, 3 policies that have shaped recent changes in French school system and their impact.
Back cover, Editions du Seuil.
“Is school a conservative institution, impossible to reform? This book offers an unprecedented evaluation of three of the most emblematic dimensions of the French school model: the ban on the Islamic veil, the periodic evaluation of teachers by inspectors specialized in this task, and the recruitment of elite higher education programs through competitive exams that are prepared in specific classes prépas. The conclusion is striking: the ban on the veil coincided with an improvement in the results of young female students of Muslim origin; the periodic evaluation of teachers leads to improvements in their students’ performance, especially in deprived schools; the social recruitment of elite programs can be diversified by simple reforms of their classes prépas. In the end, republican principles are not incompatible with reducing inequalities in education. The school is on the move!”
The author
Éric Maurin is an economist and sociologist, professor at PSE and director of studies at EHESS.
His fields of research are the economics of education, labour economics, quantitative methods and social stratification.
His publications include Le Ghetto français (2005), La Peur du déclassement (2009) and La Fabrique du conformisme (2015).