L'enseignement sociologique au lycée: Entre problèmes sociaux et sociologie savante

Abstract

From its creation within a discipline in 1966, the teaching of sociology to French secondary school pupils aims at developing a thoughtful approach and a critical viewpoint on social questions. A survey carried out with lower sixth form pupils (11th grade) showed the extent to which this aim had been met. The didactical methods used are analysed keeping in mind the rival tension between the two models. The first one involving a recourse to 'social analysis' was prevalent up until the 1980's while the second, which tends to be developing, is closer to an introduction to Sociology. These two approaches give rise to debate amongst teachers which, in turn, influences the development of the curriculum, both formally and in substance, all the more so the subject contents show themselves to be particularly sensitive to the political dimension of social developments. Through this three-fold approach - how the pupils receive this teaching, the scope and formal nature of the curriculum, the curriculum in itself - the authors have sought to illustrate the complexity of curriculum development and to bring out the driving forces at work to explain it.