This historical exploration of the development of the academic workforce in the UK and France was triggered by the observation of significant similarities in contemporary debates on casualisation, and segmentation despite their distinctive HE systems. We develop a quantitative history of academic staff to understand why the differences in the two…

Teacher shortages have intensified across several OECD countries, making this an urgent priority for education systems. Between 2015 and 2022, the share of students whose principals reported shortages rose from 29% to 46.7% on average across the OECD. Simultaneously, rapid technological advances, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and broader…

During the last 30 years, there have been several major reforms of teacher education in France. The role of universities in teacher education, the acquisition of professional competencies, as well as the articulation between academic courses and practice in schools, have all been questioned. These reforms have led to lots of debates and…

This report aims to provide insight into the realities faced by higher education academic staff at a time of fast-moving change and increasing societal demand. Fluctuating student numbers, new funding and steering mechanisms are among the features of today's European higher education landscape, but not enough is known about how academic staff are…

This paper explores the complex ways in which the marketisation of education and the associated publication of performance data have contributed to the emergence of a new politics of recognition which has paradoxically served further to naturalise educational inequalities. Of all the reforms associated with subjecting education to market forces,…

This article aims to define what "transversal training" represents in secondary teachers' training in France. It attempts at the same time to assess critically the place it holds in the framework of the two years of training that university institutes for teacher training provide for young teachers. Noting the small place occupied by…

Describes the position of academic staff at universities and other higher education institutions in France, where they occupy a place between other professions and the civil service. As the system evolves toward increased self-governance of institutions of higher education, the faculty is seen by administrators as an obstacle to the development of…

The United States and France have actively implemented higher education policies to attract foreign students. In the case of France, European Union educational initiatives are often a means to further policies that are already in place. This article focuses on the response of two diverse French higher education institutions to the EU's Bologna…

Examines the history of France's preservice teacher education, from separate primary and secondary training through the single new institution, the "Institut Universitaire de Formation des Maitres." The process of transition to this new institute has been difficult, largely due to powerful resistance shown by university and secondary…

Presents a critical analysis of the reform of French preservice teacher education since 1990; in particular examining the difficulty of introducing change and noting how clearly defined political decisions can be diluted in the implementation stage by various stakeholders. Examines the creation and organization of new teacher training institutes,…

To keep pace with changing skills, today's industrial workers are in need of three distinct kinds of competencies: vocational, technical, and multifunctional. France has chosen to focus on technical skills and upgrade the level of vocational education. All three skills are necessary to production, and no one is more important than the other. This…

Vocational teachers and trainers in France belong to four groups: teaching personnel employed by the Ministry of Education, teaching personnel in private technical education, teaching personnel in educational establishments accountable to other ministers, and trainers in other bodies (apprenticeship training centers and company training centers).…