Preventing School and Social Exclusion: A French–British Comparative Study

Abstract

Statistics in European countries show the same trends, for example: social inclusion depends on inclusion in education, training or employment, and life chances are greatly improved if the level of qualifications is high; in all European countries, economic growth still leads to the existence of ‘pockets’ of poverty and economic and social relegation. The schools whose students get results below the national average are located in such areas. Nevertheless, educational policies for addressing disaffected young people in European countries are different, as they are linked with choices made among the European paradigms of social exclusion and models of schooling. This article extends the findings from a comparative study for which Professors Carl Parsons and Danielle Zay were responsible in the European Interreg programme. Research teams in France and England included academics and practitioners in two disadvantaged regions, Nord Pas-de-Calais on the French side and Kent on the English side. The study aimed to find practices and strategies likely to help disaffected young people. The comparative approach was worthwhile since the two countries represent opposing perspectives on exclusion and its prevention at school level among the European paradigms. The English and French teams' approach was drawn from the same theoretical background, the same paradigm of school and social exclusion. The starting question which articulates the others was: How can schools deal with problems which come from elsewhere? This article introduces the results of this collaborative inquiry, addressing both the schools' staff and young people in schools, many of whom were dropping in and out of school. It was these initial results that prompted us to submit a new Interreg project as a development from the previous one.