Centralization and Incremental Change in France: The Case of the Haby Educational Reform

A concern with the relationships between different levels of centralization and the management of change is long-standing in many of the social sciences. The French educational system has always stood in the minds of many as a monument to over-centralization and red tape. In her recent magisterial study, The Social Origins of Educational Systems, Archer has examined the consequences for educational change of different levels of centralization in the educational system in a variety of national settings. In her book she argues with great care and a wealth of historical example that it is possible to establish certain broad generalizations which describe the manner in which educational change is produced, and that sharp distinctions in this regard must be made between the centralized systems and the more decentralized systems. Her study covers the period up to 1974. Since then there have been very important changes in the French educational system. These changes and the political conflict which surrounded them, particularly between 1974 and 1978, are of considerable interest in their own right, to students of both comparative public policy and French politics. The principal purpose of this discussion, however, is to examine Archer's propositions about the modes of change typical of centralized systems in the light of the reforms introduced in these years. My concern is therefore with the administrative and political consequences of centralization and this inquiry leads in turn to some discussion of the role of pressure groups in the Fifth French Republic.