Youth Work, the schooling
and social sectors in France
Laurent Besse, 2014, IUT
University of Tours (France)
CETHIS (EA 6298)
Marc Carletti, IUT Figeac,
Toulouse 2 University, LRPmip, 2014 1
Youth Policy
2
“The sum of significant government initiatives affecting young people’s lives”.
Lost in Translation ?
3
“There is no consistent definition of youth work either in all
European countries or even in any single country”
(Youth Partnership, 2004)
Youth Work and Schooling in France : the
perpetual school?
4
 - Importance of schooling in the building of French
citizenship since the Revolution (Condorcet, Republican
myth, Jules Ferry’s laws 1881-1882)
 - Popular education strongly related to school, primary
school masters playing a crucial role in popular education
(from evening classes to summer camps)
 - The role of the Ligue de l’enseignement (The Schooling
League) founded 1866, still one if not the largest cultural
trusts in France and the core of the secular sphere
School versus Youth policy? (1930-1959)
5
 - The reluctant path to Youth policies : The Front populaire
in the mid 30’s strongly opposed the idea of a Youth policy
which was synonimous of totalitarism (Germany, Italy) and
there was a large Republican consensus on this point
 - A ministry of Youth and Family was established by the
Petain regime in 1940 and Youth policy will keep a
totalitarian flavor long after the war, even if thematic youth
policies are advocated.
 - After 1944, the Ligue acted as a Quango for Youth and
Cultural activities (role of specialised school masters)
Forgotten school (1960-1990’s)
6
 - Ealry 60’s : Emergence of Youth policy in France,




especially regarding leisure and citizenship (Animation i.e
Youth and Community Work)
- Social decline of school masters
- Centrality of school questionned
- (difficult)Emergence of the new professionalized
animateurs (Youth and Community workers) who defined
themselves partly against both school masters and social
workers
- Training of these workers being mainly carried out by the
the Youth mouvements (not universities)
School Rediscovered (late 1990-2014?)
7
 - Important reform of French school since 2012
 - Les rythmes scolaires (ie schooltime organisation) that is
a reorganisation of the schoolday and the will to take into
account afterschool work
 - Broader context : PISA inquiries, crise of the French
middle school (« collège »)
 Growing role of the local authorities in France since the
early 90’s, especially regarding education matters
Education partagée?
8
 Education? Shared education? Or Divided education? (BIER
2010)
 What part for Youth and community work?
Special Education and Youth Work
9
ÉDUCATION SPÉCIALISÉ
• Éducateur spécialisé
ANIMATION
• Animateur socio-culturel
• Moniteur éducateur
• Animateur sociale
• Éducateur technique
• Animateur de loisirs
• Aide médico-psychologique
• Animateur de quartier
• Animateur socioéducatif
• Animateur coordonnateur
•…
Common Sources
10
Les mouvements de jeunesse…
• Summer camps, outdoor education, secular and faith-based youth
fellowships…
…et d’éducation populaire
• “Popular education is committed to the constant transformation of society
by contributing to the development of educational, economic, social and
political alternatives in which individuals are involved as the co-authors of
their future.”(CNAJEP, 2005)
Common Sources
11
• Henri Joubrel (1914-1984)
Founder of the National Association of Educators of Maladjusted Youth
(ANEJI)
• Gisèle de Failly (1905-1989)
Founder of the CEMEA (Centre d’Entraînement aux Méthodes d’Education
Active)
• Joffre Dumazedier (1914-1984)
Sociologist, author of Vers une civilisation du loisir ? (1962)
Founder of Peuple et Culture (1944)
Common Sources
12
Website of the CEMEA, « Mouvement national d’éducation nouvelle » 2014
Divergent Paths
13
Health
Leisure
Justice
Culture
Individual-based
Collective
Psychology/Psychiatry
Sociology
Residential facilities
Open-access
Professionalization and Training
14
Affaires Sociales
et de la santé
Travail social
1967
Diplôme
d’Educateur
Spécialisé
Jeunesse et des
Sports
Education
nationale,
Enseignement
supérieur et
recherche
Animation
Animation
1971 CAPASE
1967
DUT
Carrières Sociales
Animation
sociale et
sociocuturelle
1979
DEFA
(repealed 2009)
2006 DEJEPS
Culture
Médiation
culturelle
Preventive Work
15
Government response to troublesome youth :
Maurice Herzog and the sociocultural
facilities (Maisons des Jeunes et de la Culture,
Centres sociaux…),
Preventive Work (éducateurs de rue, Club de
prévention…)
.
Animation
16
Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture in Meaux (Paris metropolitan area) mid-60’s
“A
.
vital process through which individuals and groups
affirm themselves and get going; it is to generate a
dynamism that is at once biological and spiritual,
individual and social.” (THERY, 1965)
Cross-sectoral work
17
Since the 80’s, a succession of trans-sectoral policy measures and programmes
have flourished in the distressed neighbourhoods of the French big cities :
Opérations « Anti-été chaud (1982),
Programmes Ville,Vie,Vacances (1995),
Programmes de réussite éducative (2005),
Contrats Urbains de Cohésion Sociale (2007)
.
Priority areas
Prévention
18
(Social) youth
(social) work ?
Youth work ?
Prévention spécialisée
Prévention naturelle
Residential care
Open-access facilities
Relation/Individual-based
Group /Collective
Rescue/selectivity
Specialized
Education/Universalism
Generalist
What is social Work ?
19
 In many countries including France social work is a debated notion
with contending views on the meaning areas it should cover.
“What is clear is that what social work is taken to be has as much been about
whose definition is seen as legitimate rather than which definition (..).Social work
has always been subject to competing claims of definition and practice.”
(ASQUITH, CLARK, 2005)
 The primary focus of Travail social and intervention sociale seems to
be placed on « at-risk » or « vulnerable» sections of the
population whose integration and well-being are threatened or
impaired.
Interstice
« An intervening space, especially a very small one »
20
 Animateurs operate « In-between the formal education, cultural
and social sectors » (LEBON, 2007)
 “ Youth work, youth workers […] are often positioned between
professional borders, such as leisure, education and social work […]
These interstitial spaces, the spaces between bordes, may consolidate
practices.” (BATSLEER, DAVIES, 2010)
External and complementary ?
21
In Defence of Youth Work website – June 2014
Interstitiality
22
‘In the modern era, interstitiality, or the space between
one boundary and the next, has become an urgent area
of investigation. Existing within and between entities,
interstices challenge conventional understandings of
boundedness, inviting us to rethink the space between
objects and ideas as an erupting site of transformation’.
( Interstitial : A Journal of Modern Culture and Events - Call for paper, 2012)
REFERENCES
23
 ASQUITH S. CLARK C. , WATERHOUSE L. (2005) The Role of the Social Worker in
the XXIst Century- A literature Review, University of Edinburgh – Social Research, p.11
 BATSLEER J. and DAVIES B. (2010) What is Youth Work ?, Learning Matters, p.44
 BIER B. (2010) Politiques de jeunesse et politiques éducatives.
Citoyenneté/éducation/altérité, INJEP, coll. « Débats Jeunesses »,
 DAVIES B. ( 2008) A History of the Youth Service in England. volumes 1 and 2 available
on National Youth Agency website
 CHARTE DE L’EDUCATION POPULAIRE (2005),
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/politique-culturelle/populaire/pdf/charte-cnajep2005.pdf (access June 2014)
 CAPUL
M. LEMAY M. (1996) De l’éducation spécialisée, Ramonville St Agne, Erès
.
 GILLET JC. (2006) L'Animation en questions, éditions Érès
REFERENCES
24
 GILLET JC. (2010) Morceaux choisis sur l’animation 1972-1995, L’Harmattan, p.225-226
 LONCLE P. (2003) L’action politique malgré les jeunes, L’Harmattan.
 LEBON, F. (2007) Les animateurs socioculturels et de loisirs : morphologie d'un groupe
professionnel (1982-2005), INJEP, 2007 p.10
 LEBON F.(2009) « Animateur jeunesse : éducateur ou travailleur social ? », intervention
aux rencontres nationales des professionnels et élus à la jeunesse Neuj’Pro 2009, à Vichy,
le 16 octobre 2009
 SEGRESTAN P. (2007) « L’animateur est-il un travailleur social ?…Non, et cest tant
mieux ! », intervention aux journées d’études du Groupement des animateurs en
gérontologie
.
 SEGRESTAN P. (2011) « Quels devenirs pour l'animation sociale ? », Vie sociale et
traitements n°109, 2011
REFERENCES
25
 TETARD Françoise (1984), « Politiques de la jeunesse (1944-1966) : paroles de la
volonté, politiques de l’illusion » in Les Jeunes et les autres, vol. 2, PERCHERON Annick
(dir), CRIV.
THERY Henri (1965), « L’animation des collectivités urbaines » in Recherche sociale 1,
p.44
 YOUTH PARTNERSHIP (2004) http://youth-partnership-eu.coe.int/export/sites/default/youthpartnership/TALE-Documentation/Documents/Phase_3/ELU_1/Socio_economic_scope_of_youth_work__part_4.pdf (access June 2014)
.