Any room for deliberation? Educational guidance in French schools?

Thierry Berthet (1, 2)

1 IEP Bordeaux - Sciences Po Bordeaux - Institut d'études politiques de Bordeaux
2 CED - Centre Émile Durkheim

This article aims at studying school guidance from a policy analysis point of view. Based on the observation of French educational guidance practices, it discusses Thomas Risse's logic of arguing thesis. Through focusing on the room left for deliberation within the micro decision-making process that is educational guidance in France, this analysis sets out to reveal the constraints that press upon a mechanism for, and a logic of, deliberation. Based upon a quantitative and qualitative study carried out in the Aquitaine region, it concludes that this procedure ultimately only rarely results in practices of debate that go beyond formalist commitments to open and equitable argumentation.

Mots clés: guidance practices; policy analysis; deliberation; education policies; France

Domaines: Science politique; Sociologie

Thierry Berthet. Any room for deliberation? Educational guidance in French schools?. Critical Policy Studies, 2013, 7 (3), pp.325-338. ⟨10.1080/19460171.2012.759686⟩. ⟨halshs-00927549⟩