This special issue "History of education in the Middle East from the end of the 19th century to the present day" aims to present current research trends to scholars unfamiliar with this cultural area. It focuses on the contents taught in various institutions and on the vocational education.

Thirty years after André Chervel's innovative article on the history of school subjects, this special issue aims to put into perspective the recent changes and trends in this field of research, which is now characterised by a growing interest in actors, i.e. those who "produce" the disciplines.

How do they integrate their remit of preparing students for the world of work? To provide a clear picture of their specificities, this issue discusses technical education institutions.

The articles in this issue examine and analyse not only the use of simulation in different professional training contexts, but they also question the relevance of the mechanisms implemented, the practices observed and the situations generated.

The objective of this issue is to go beyond the taught oral skills v oral skills for learning dichotomy to show that educationalists have continued to problematize the latter, which suggests that the teaching of oral skills is becoming an established practice in the teaching of the French language.

The actors in the school experience the tensions related to working conditions, the ambiguities of an institution's limited autonomy, and the overwhelming increase in administrative tasks.How can we analyze the collective work, and the shared responsibility of school's managerial staff in France and in Europe?