Alternative teaching methods: a galaxy with varied political aims
Of the twelve million children and adolescents enrolled in school in France, only a few tens of thousands are enrolled in programs that claim to use alternative teaching methods.
Sylvain Wagnon, University of Montpellier
Activist websites such as Le Printemps de l'Éducation (The Spring of Education) put the number of children affected at 60,000. An "official" figure of 24,851 children is given by the report of Miviludes (Interministerial Mission for Vigilance and Combating Sectarian Aberrations) for children not attending school, either in person or remotely.
If we look only at the statistics, the phenomenon may seem marginal. Nevertheless, its growth is real, and the discourse of activists promoting these teaching methods is finding a wide audience in the media and among certain segments of society. In a recent study published in the journal Tréma, we outlined an analysis of the definition and contours of this diverse galaxy.
What do a traditional religious school, a Montessori school, a Freinet school, and homeschooling have in common? Analyzing this nebulous concept means attempting to establish the unifying principles of these movements without underestimating the differences between the actors involved in the various currents. It also means highlighting the effective role of the initiators, supporters, and ideological and financial ramifications.
New education as a legacy
The idea of alternatives is not new, since the new education movements pioneered by educators Célestin Freinet, Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, and Ovide Decroly have been present in France since the first half ofthe 20th century and were developed in response to traditional schooling. The alternative teaching methods ofthe 21st century appear to differ in their political aims, methods, and scientific foundations.
Given that they are mainly made up of private schools that are not under contract, the question of links with the school system arises. By studying the discourse of the various movements, it becomes clear that the "attacks" on public education are not all of the same nature.
Home schooling advocates are fundamentally opposed to school, but other movements, such as democratic schools, advocate strategies of circumvention or competition in the name of educational freedom. Is this a temporary resistance? Does it contribute to the liberalization and privatization of education? These questions remain unanswered.
Neuroscience in the background
In his latest book, Philippe Meirieu lucidly outlines the issues at stake in the current debates between advocates of "traditional" schooling, proponents of progressive education, and advocates of alternative teaching methods who wish to radically redefine all educational relationships by condemning adult domination. Philippe Meirieu defines them as "hyperpédagos," which is debatable, as some activists reject the very idea of pedagogy as a tool for dominating children.
Behind this typology lies a political divide. The Freinet movement, and to a lesser extent the Decroly movement, advocate for emancipation and political transformation in education, while today's alternative movements most often claim to be "apolitical," emphasizing the "obvious" importance of personal development as legitimized by neuroscience. However, this refusal to be "labeled" does not prevent discourse and practices that refer to clearly identified political and educational spheres.
Alternative teaching methods inthe 21st century, whether inside or outside of school, implicitly or explicitly draw on the new education trends of the early20th century. They are sometimes direct offshoots of these trends, as is the case with Montessori schools and Freinet classrooms. However, the scientific foundations of the two trends are not the same.
New educational trends stem from the thinking and practices of child psychology and social psychology. While drawing on some of this body of knowledge,21st-century alternative teaching methods legitimize their practices through advances in cognitive science, particularly neuroscience. We are also seeing a kind of alliance between neuroscientists and advocates of alternative teaching methods in response to public education.
Dispelling myths
Our analysis of the galaxy of alternative teaching methods highlights three archipelagos with divergent, even antagonistic, political aims.
- The first group is that of the historical currents of progressive education (Decroly, Montessori, Steiner, and Freinet), which are very much present today in the French public and private educational landscape. This is by no means a common "front." The ideals of social diversity and educational transformation remain strong anchors in the Freinet and Decroly movements, while the Steiner and Montessori movements focus primarily on personality development.
- The second archipelago offers an educational program focused on "tradition" and the transmission of knowledge before socialization. This group is mainly composed of traditionalist Catholic schools. These schools are ideologically opposed to most alternative schools that advocate societal transformation. Nevertheless, this movement perceives a convergence in certain alternative schools in terms of circumventing public education and liberalizing education.
- Finally, the third archipelago, which is currently developing, is a nebulous group of educational experiences, associations, and actors based on the concepts of family education, personal development, and neuroscience. Its growth remains negligible in quantitative terms, but it is very aggressive in the media and politically. One of the new aspects is the appropriation of the idea of innovation by schools or experiments that are not tied to a particular form of education. We are witnessing a tug-of-war between individualistic withdrawal and a desire to transform the existing system.
Yesterday as today, education is obviously a political issue. The difficulty for reformers within the public education system is to defend the idea of education for the common good, while remaining critical of that education system. This does not mean that the situation is immutable, but we believe that we need to dispel the myths.
New education is not a uniform movement; it has not permeated the French education system with its "pedagogism"—reformers remain marginalized within the public education system. The struggle to define emancipatory education is even more relevant today in the face of growing social individualism and heightened nationalism.
Sylvain Wagnon, Professor of Education Sciences, University of Montpellier
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