This issue of Histoire de l'éducation includes a thematic part and three various articles. The thematic part is devoted to "State and education in France, 19th-20th centuries" and follows the special issue about “State and education in Europe, 18th-21st centuries” (number 134, April-June 2012).

This issue focuses on the situation of pupils readers in their early years learning, on the practices of their teachers and on the educationalists work for seeking to better understand and guide the activities of each other.

Through the presentation and discussion of the Neopass@ction platform, this special issue questions different modes of conceptualization of the teaching activity organizers, to provide some reading keys to teacher educators interested in using this platform or other resources produced in the field of ergonomics analysis of teaching activity.