Éducation et territoire : inégalités ou diversité ?

It has long been considered that the national level was the only one compatible with the equality objectives of the education system in France. This isolation of the school from its territories has been called into question over the past forty years.

Sociological research has shown, on the one hand, that national uniformity can accommodate large inequalities in the way students are actually treated. Decentralization and the priority education policies initiated in the 1980s have, on the other hand, undermined the strictly national management of education.

This debate is still relevant today, as shown, for example, by the launch of "educational cities" or the differentiation of universities through "excellence policies". Should territorial diversity be deepened or should the national framework be maintained ? There is always tension when it comes to imagining educational decisions that arise as much at the local level as at the national level.

In order to review knowledge on these questions, this book brings together researchers specializing in the relationship between education and its territories, from rural schools to universities, as well as education officials, at national and local levels, who have been particularly involved in the territorial dimension of education.