Les politiques d'éducation prioritaire en Europe. Tome II : Quel devenir pour l'égalité scolaire ?

Priority education policies, or equivalent public policies focused on the problems of educational inequalities, have changed significantly since they were first formulated and implemented in the 1960s. In a number of countries, we see the movement from a compensation model to a struggle against exclusion and then the emergence of a model which takes the themes of adaptation to diversity, the promotion of excellence, and risk management as its main credo.
This evolution reflects the ambiguous relationships between these policies and the selective aims of education systems. It is driven less by publicly debated choices than it is by approaches to definition and the social construction of the problems which these policies are intended to address and the population groups which they target, as well as by the way in which the social sciences view success or educational inequality. However, this evolution poses many questions related to the dynamic of eradicating the problem of inequality, the fragmentation of education systems and educational pathways, and the issues of knowledge and intellectual emancipation.
This second volume, which deals with the results of the EuroPEP comparative study, aims to improve understanding of what is happening with respect to these policies in eight European countries. It uses the analysis of transversal themes which emerge as key elements in the construction and evolution of the policies observed: the creation of ways of identifying and targeting beneficiaries; their educational activity and curriculum adaptation strategies; and the production, use and misuse of their evaluations. It seeks to make a contribution to the revival of reflection on opportunities for justice and equality in the world of education.