Education (CNRS Humanities & Social Sciences thematic priority)

Research in this field takes a historical or a sociological approach to understand more about how educational policies and inequalities that are already present in society favour or reproduce the types of inequality observed in education. It may also draw on the economic and political sciences and law to help assess the effect of public policies on breaking down educational inequalities and the cost of these public policies as compared to effects they actually produce. This research is situated at the interface between different disciplines and also aims to assess the effects of inequalities on the development of the brain and cognitive processes, on learning at school and conversely the effect of the 'Dys' disorders, other neurodevelopmental disorders and causes of disability on the acquisition of basic knowledge and learning as a whole.

This research also asks questions about the role that data usage and, more broadly, digital technology and artificial intelligence should play in learning at school as they offer the possibility of individualising learning paths to adapt them to learners. It is also bringing up questions about the fundamentals of education in a rapidly changing world with the issues of climate change, artificial intelligence or growing economic and social inequalities. This research also provokes thought about the skills to be acquired like critical thinking, understanding complex systems, communication and socio-emotional skills. Finally, researchers in this field question the very notion of the educational community and its scope by placing the educational approach in a broader context in which schools are a fundamental component but not the sole element to be considered. To achieve their research goals, the researchers draw on the humanities to study the epistemological and normative orientations of educational policies and their implemented formats.

Research centers and networks