Philippe Meirieu

Bio: Philippe Meirieu is an academic researcher. The author has an hindex of 13, co-authored 28 publications receiving 594 citations.

Lettre à un jeune professeur

Abstract: Vous avez le desir de transmettre et la passion d’enseigner. Vous voulez apprendre a lire et dessiner aux enfants, enseigner l’histoire, les mathematiques, l’education physique ou l’electronique a des adolescents. C’est pour cela que vous etes devenu professeur... ou que vous allez le devenir. Pas pour vous epuiser a faire de la discipline. Pas pour crouler sous des reformes ministerielles contradictoires et des instructions officielles esoteriques. Ni pour tenter desesperement de colmater les breches d’une societe tout entiere vouee au divertissement et a l’individualisme. Alors, vous vous demandez parfois si vous ne vous etes pas trompe de metier. Ou si l’on ne vous a pas trompe sur le metier ! Je voudrais vous convaincre qu’il n’en est rien. Qu’il n’y a pas de contradiction entre votre projet personnel et les exigences de l’Ecole de la Republique. Je voudrais vous montrer que vous pouvez etre totalement investi dans la transmission des savoirs et assumer, en meme temps, la dimension politique de votre travail. Car c’est au cœur meme de l’acte d’enseigner que se joue l’education du citoyen et que se construit une societe democratique... Pour les jeunes professeurs et pour les autres aussi... pour tous ceux qui sont concernes par l’avenir de notre Ecole, j’ai voulu n’eluder aucune question et me situer la ou, aujourd’hui, les tensions sont les plus vives. Date de premiere edition : 2005.

Pédagogie : des lieux communs aux concepts clés

Abstract: Les debats educatifs s’organisent souvent autour de « lieux communs ». Issus de la tradition pedagogique, repris par les discours officiels, relayes par les medias, ils constituent une « vulgate pedagogique » bien connue : « l’eleve au centre », « le respect de l’enfant », « les methodes actives » ou « l’individualisation de la formation » sont ainsi presentes comme des evidences… avant de devenir des lignes de clivage, voire des objets d’epiques batailles ideologiques. Mais, ces « lieux communs » sont rarement explicites et l’on se garde bien de chercher comment ils sont apparus, dans quels sens ils ont ete mobilises et quelles differences, voire divergences d’interpretation, ils recouvrent. Que signifie « respecter un enfant » ? Qu’est-ce qu’un « eleve actif » ? Que faut-il « individualiser » dans l’education et la formation ? Aussi est-il absolument necessaire de regarder de pres le sens et la portee de ces expressions. Derriere leur apparente simplicite, elles cachent des partis pris souvent contradictoires. C’est pourquoi il faut en debusquer les significations et, derriere les slogans, chercher les concepts. C’est tout l’enjeu de cet ouvrage : eclairer le pedagogue en lui permettant d’acceder aux veritables enjeux qui se cachent derriere les « lieux communs » pedagogiques. L’armer pour son metier, l’eclairer pour sa mission, lui fournir les « concepts cles » necessaires pour mener a bien, le plus lucidement possible, l’entreprise educative.

L'éducation peut-elle être encore au cœur d'un projet de société?

Abstract: Plutot que d'exalter une ecole ideale passee, les auteurs demandent que l'on redonne toute sa place a la pedagogie, que l'ecole s'ouvre a l'alterite et qu'elle ne soit pas une identite independante de son contexte. Le livre ne se contente pas de denoncer, il presente aussi des pistes qui peuvent nourrir le debat de maniere feconde. » Hommes et Libertes

What is Education For? On Good Education, Teacher Judgement, and Educational Professionalism

Abstract: Teaching and teachers have recently become the centre of attention of policy makers and researchers. The general idea here is that teaching matters. Yet the question that is either not asked or is only answered implicitly is why teaching matters. In this article I engage with this question in the context of a wider discussion about the role, status and significance of the question of purpose in education. I suggest that this is the most fundamental question in all educational endeavours. It is a normative question which poses itself as a multi-dimensional question, since education always functions in relation to three domains of purpose: qualification, socialisation and subjectification. Against this background I analyse the specific nature of teacher judgement in education and show how the space for teacher judgement is being threatened by recent developments in educational policy and practice that concern the status of the student, the impact of accountability and the role of evidence. I indicate how, where and why these are problematic and what this implies for regaining a space for teachers’ professional judgement.

From Formative Evaluation to a Controlled Regulation of Learning Processes. Towards a wider conceptual field

Abstract: (1998). From Formative Evaluation to a Controlled Regulation of Learning Processes. Towards a wider conceptual field. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice: Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 85-102.

Distinguishing between games and simulations: A systematic review

Abstract: Based on the hypothesis that inconclusive research results with regard to the impact of games and simulations are linked to the absence of clear concept definitions, research was undertaken to fill this methodological gap by identifying the essential attributes of games and simulations. This paper first introduces the context for our study. This is followed by a description of the analysis grid used to create a database of the literature, and the methodology employed to conduct our systematic review of this literature. The essential attributes of games and simulations are then described and the distinctions between these two concepts are presented.

Receiving the Gift of Teaching: From ‘Learning From’ to ‘Being Taught By’

Abstract: This paper is an enquiry into the meaning of teaching. I argue that as a result of the influence of constructivist ideas about learning on education, teaching has become increasingly understood as the facilitation of learning rather than as a process where teachers have something to give to their students. The idea that teaching is immanent to learning goes back to the Socratic idea of teaching as a maieutic process, that is, as bringing out what is already there. Against the maieutic conception of teaching I argue for an understanding of teaching in terms of transcendence, where teaching brings something radically new to the student. I explore the meaning of the idea of transcendence through a discussion of Kierkegaard and Levinas, who both criticise the maieutic understanding of teaching and, instead, argue for a transcendent understanding of teaching—an understanding of teaching which they refer to as ‘revelation.’ Whereas Kierkegaard argues that revelation—which he understand as a process of ‘double truth giving’—lies beyond the power of the teacher, Levinas interprets revelation as the experience of ‘being taught.’ I use Levinas’s suggestion in order to explore the distinction between ‘learning from’ and ‘being taught by’ and argue that teaching has to be understood in the latter sense, that is, in terms of the experience of ‘being taught.’ To connect the idea of teaching to the experience of ‘being taught’ highlights that teaching can be understood as a process of ‘truth giving’ albeit that (1) this ‘gift’ lies beyond the powers of the teacher, and (2) the truth that is given, has to be understood in terms of what Kierkegaard calls ‘subjective truth’—which is not relativistic truth but existential truth, that is, truth that matters for one’s life. Understanding teaching in these terms also opens up new possibilities for understanding the role of authority in teaching. While my argument implies that teachers cannot simply and straightforwardly ‘produce’ the experience of ‘being taught’—so that what matters has to do with the conditions under which the gift of teaching can be received—their actions and activities nonetheless matter. In the final section of the paper I therefore argue that if we want to give teaching back to education, we need to resist the depiction of the teacher as a disposable and dispensable ‘resource’ that students can learn from or not, and need to articulate and enact a different story about the teacher, the student and the school.