The popular education is current ideas which militates for a dissemination of the information to the greatest number in order to make it possible each one to open out and to find the place of citizen who returns to him.

It is generally defined in complement of the actions of formal teaching. It is a education which recognizes with each one the will and the capacity to progress and to develop, at all the ages of the life. It is also not limited to the diffusion of the academic culture nor even to art in the broad sense, but with sciences, technology, the sports and the play activities…

Actually all these trainings are the occasion to develop its capacities with living in company: to confront its ideas, to share a life of group, to express themselves in public, to listen, etc

In French-speaking Belgium, popular education is often indicated by the term further education . It is not to confuse with an continuing professional education.

History

It is important to put in perspective popular education in its historical context. Three events are regarded as founders of popular education: the French revolution with the Condorcet report/ratio, creation by Jean Macé of the League of teaching in 1866 and the Popular front followed Resistance.

Declaration of Condorcet

In April 1792, Condorcet submits a report entitled “ the general organization of the state education ”. One can read in particular there: “as long as there will be men who will not obey their reason alone, which will receive their opinions of a foreign opinion, in vain, all the chains would have been broken in vain, these opinions of orders would be useful truths; mankind would not remain about it less not divided between two classes: that of the men who reason, and that of the men who believe. That of the Masters and that of the slaves”.

This declaration recognizes with education a civic purpose: “The instruction makes it possible to establish an equality in fact and to return the equality political recognized by the law”. Condorcet preaches an instruction in two times: 1: the education of elementary school 2: Education throughout the life.

Rises of the labor movement

The Parisian revolutions of 1830 and 1848, which mixed on the same barricades students (at the time almost exclusively resulting from the middle-class), craftsmen and workmen, will involve the formation of first great laic associations of popular education: the polytechnic Association (created by members of the Polytechnic school and animated by Auguste Count) then the philotechnic Association (resulting in 1848 from polytechnic Association).

The Commune of Paris in 1871 affirms certain rights, proposes certain reforms like “the end of the exploitation of the man by the man”, the adoption of the red flag, the separation of the Church and the State, the introduction of a Ministry of Labor, the suppression of the night-work, the moratorium on the rents, laic and free teaching, the vocational training ensured by the workers, the free canteen and school stationery.

The Third Republic initially will settle before setting up or at least supporting a few years later the amnesty of the communards, the right to strike, the trade union rights, the laic and obligatory public school, the first labor markets, etc

The workmen claim libraries in the companies, of the courses of the evening in addition them professional trainings intended to increase their productivity: economy, philosophy, history. It is the time of the appearance of the first museums of work: cultural statute of the tool, works of culture. For example for Fernand Pelloutier education is a prelude to the revolution “what missed with the workman, it is the science of its misfortune”, it is necessary “to inform to revolt”. After the shock of the First World War and the disappearance of the Utopia of solidarity of the workers, the interest carried to the revolution Bolshevik causes scissions within the labor movement (SFIO and PCF, CGT…).

The Popular front

But the threat of a new war, Fascism, the “rise of the dangers” allows the arrival of the Popular front and starts again it movements of popular education, in particular thanks to the action of the secretariat of State to the Sports and the Leisures of Léo Lagrange. One sees the birth of the CEMEA (Center of drive to the methods of education activates), of the CLAJ (Club Leisures Action Youth), of the Inns of youths, the building sites of youths.

The Post-war period

The war then the Pétain government led to a flashback. But very quickly one finds in resistance the elements come from popular education. People and culture are created in 1943. In their proclamation of 1945:
“an alive culture causes a type of man. It supposes methods to transmit knowledge and to form the personality. Lastly, it involves the creation of education institutions. Thus the popular culture needs a humanism, a technique, an organization clean - or else, it is likely to remain captive of an out-of-date teaching. ”

At the time of a reflection on the place of the culture, Joffre Dumazedier conceptualizes the concept of “Cultural development” to fight intellectually that of “Economic development”, in a logic where it is a question of forging critical weapons against capitalism.

With the Release, one attends the birth of the direction of the popular culture and the youth movements, then of the direction of the popular education and the youth movements within State education. The laic current considers at this time that the school is acquired and is not any more to defend, that it is necessary to work around the school.

The labor movement powerful and is organized. It is around work in the company that the culture is organized, in bond with the production, it acts to establish a glance on management. Birth of Work and Culture, Tourism and Work. Popular education is flourishing. The league of teaching reconstitutes and engages again a defense of secularity.

The Ve République

Then the arrival of the Fifth Republic causes important modifications: youth is separated from education and is entrusted to Maurice Herzog, the culture émancipe also under the supervision of André Malraux. One sees odd things like the practice of the theater amateur remained a practice of popular education and thus depend on youth, whereas the remainder of the theater (the professionals, the “cultureux ones” to take again the word, pejorative, heard at the time of the debate by sociocultural organizers, which shows a ditch well) passes to the culture with Malraux.

1968 mark a turning of popular education. The May 25th, the persons in charge of the houses of the culture publish the Declaration of Villeurbanne:

“(.) we deliberately refuse any design of the culture which would do this one the object of a simple transmission. Not that we held for no one, or contestable in oneself, this heritage without which we would not be perhaps able to operate on ourselves, today, this radical dispute: but because we cannot be unaware of any more that, for the very large majority of our contemporaries, the access to this heritage passes by a company of resaisissement who must above all put them able to face and practice, in an increasingly effective way, a world which, in any event, does not have the least chance to be humanized without them. ”

The requirement of social transformation is strong, but very quickly part of this revolt is recovered, choked. Popular education loses its force at the same time as the labor movement. The Seventies see the birth of the sociocultural Animation which claim neutrality without being able to give a precise definition of it. It is also the law of 1971 on further education, strongly inspired of the movement of the new education, but which takes again however only the part devoted to the formation, the employability and forgets the criticism of the action of it, the democracy, short met the accent more on the ends that on the means.

Currents of popular education

During the 20th century one saw emerging three currents and three traditions of popular education: the educational laic tradition, the humanistic Christian tradition and that of the labor movement.

The laic current is clearly resulting from the tradition of Condorcet. The instruction must be accessible to all and train the citizens, and taken of load by the republic. For Condorcet there is no democracy of the capacity without democracy of the knowledge. But he pains to find his place today in the evolution of capitalism.

The second in the Christian movement, after the rallying of the Protestants to the 1st current, is clearly catholic. The heirs to this tradition wish to keep morals, to fall under problems of assistance, assistance, monitoring, raising the moral standard. But it evolves/moves, incarnated by “the Furrow” of Marc Sangnier which will discover the problems of the exploitation little by little. It will be excommunicated besides by the pope in 1910, to have encouraged to adhere to CGT. This current, directed towards the current problems of the social link, could be incarnated today in forms of social actions such as those preached by the social centres.

Finally the third current born with the labor movement at the 19th century. In the middle of the century, the trade unions are prohibited but the labor movement gives birth to from friendly, the mutual insurance companies and the co-operatives. The workmen wonder whether it is advisable to send their children to the school of the middle-class or to exempt a culture and eigenvalues to them with the working class. The stakes of the instruction are important: which contents? Who educates? Which formation? Who does one have to educate? Who controls the school (law Falloux)? For Genevieve Poujol, this historical link between popular education and labor movement can seem secondary because the popular education of yesterday does not have it at any time met, even at the time of the popular universities . From the sociological point of view, the author prefers to describe the birth of popular education while insisting on parallelism between laic and catholic movement.

Of this these three currents which mix, cross, it is not easy to draw a clear, precise and univocal definition of popular education.

The untraceable definition

To seek a single definition of popular education is probably a vain thing. Many authors, of militants, actors of popular education were harnessed with this delicate task. These are the attempts which are presented hereafter:

  • For Benigno Cacérès, two great prospects prevail with the emergence of popular education:

    • a design citizen aiming at giving to each one the instruction and the formation necessary to become an actor able to take part in the life of the country;
    • a humanistic design which led certain intellectuals to want to divide to know to them with others. Historically, it seems that this prospect doubles need for training qualified personnel meeting the needs for modern industry.
  • For Jose Baldizzone, there exist 3 main roads which make it possible to bring elements of definition. Those enable him to propose a definition described as empirical of popular education like educational action of popular environments in order to amend the social system … :
    • popular education like recognition of the operating fault of the social system. From this point of view, the cultural activity tries to cure something which functions badly, without a will not being posed to change the system.
    • popular education like action of education, registered in the spare time, and aiming the integration of new aspects at its cultural and political field.
    • popular education as dealing with specific public: popular environments.
  • For Jean Laurain, the structural means suitable for popular education is voluntary community life with nonlucrative goal, itself subordinated to the existence of a real spare time for the citizens who want to take part in it :
    • If the associative model is thus regarded as the model of self-management socialism, popular education as for it can have direction and of effectiveness only if it is an car-education of the people by the people .

Political context

One can thus summarize the history of popular education in five times in order to best locate in the current context of this beginning of the 21e century:
  • popular education as cultural dimension of the labor movement
  • popular education as connects specialized in the labor movement
  • institutionalization in the apparatus of State
  • fonctionnalisation in sociocultural animation
  • local development, social, cultural.

The labor movement

The first two times belong to the origin of popular education, mythical time when it was the cultural dimension of the production of the class action suit. It is the primitive definition of popular education. I.e. collective production of knowledge, cultural representations, signs which are specific to a social group in conflict.

In the beginning popular education is a dimension of the trade unionism at one time when the trade unionism is at the same time mutualism and co-operation. In the history of the labor movement, that corresponds to second half of the 19th century. An analysis had to be produced what does without and to produce of course against project compared to what occurs. This dimension is still present in part of the movements claiming popular education, for example ATTAC.

Then with the Inter-war period, one assists has a specialization (associations specialized in the culture like the film clubs, or in the leisures, the holidays).

Institutionalization

This movement rises after the war on an institutionalization from the movements which is one moment much more ambivalent than it does not appear to with it. Traumatisés by the impotence of the republican values and the instruction transmitted to the school to stop Fascism, the refondateurs of state education decide to create a direction of political education, young people and adults, and to entrust pedagogy of it not to teachers but to cultural actors.

This institutionalization will lead so that one will be able to call the fonctionnalisation, which obviously will culminate in the project of a sociocultural Animation. When one speaks “about sociocultural animation”, it became at this time there almost clearly that it on there subjects which animate objects. The loop was almost finished: one started from a historical step of subjects which speak, speak oneself between them, and one comes to agents which animate social objects with which they proposes various procedures of cultural consumption.

The ministry for the culture

One can speak about “the drift culturalist” of popular education. One indicates artistic objects to diffuse - what the ministry for the Culture holds for the popular education, renamed by its care “culture of proximity”. It is the idea of the cultural democratization, incarnated by Malraux. If the theories of Malraux went, will say Pierre Bourdieu, the museum attendants would be madly cultivated people. The project of a ministry for the culture, dreamed by the first instructors of popular education saw the day in 1959 with the detriment of the popular education, initially integrated into the Malraux ministry then rejected in 1962 worms that of youth and the sports.

The arrival of the left to the capacity and the creation of a ministry for the spare time, the presence of Jack Lang to the ministry for the Culture quickly will disappoint and leave popular education in only sociocultural animation. The cultural policy of the State concentrates with the exclusive service of the creators. It is as well as possible a question of promoting the artistic quality of works, in the worst case to serve the interests of the corporations of artists. The diffusion of the culture to the greatest number is not any more one priority. While being reconciled with the economy, the culture loses its subversive role to become again a privilege of initiates.

Changes of the economy of the culture

During this time the policies and sociocultural animation is transformed into social work of repair, and as the appropriations in addition move culture towards the social one, sometimes via the city, why quite simply not reconvert popular education into socio-professional insertion since at the same time obviously there are people to help and funds to help them.

However without that political project constrained associations claiming popular education to be stopped because insertion has as activity is not an end in itself. Actors these structures became agents, the words “walked of educational”, “market of social”, “market of the culture” enter the common vocabulary. Thus liberalization and universalization lead today organizations like OECD or OMC under the pressure of the multinationals, to want more privatization, in particular in the field of the public services, because there are a financial layer and thus potential profits. The Marchandisation of the world is set up. The stake of popular education is thus there with the turning of the century: to reaffirm a political project in order to reaffirm its role, its place in the company, not as an agent of a public policy but as an actor of the company

Personalities

Internal bonds

External bonds

  • Committee for the national and international relations of associations of youth and popular education
  • National institute of Youth and Popular education
  • '' Report/ratio the work of the culture in the social transformation ''
  • OCR Popular education
  • Cultural Presence and Action, movement of further education

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