The CNRS thematic network on research into education issues
The CNRS thematic network on research on education issues, set up in 2024 by the CNRS Institutes of Humanities and Social Sciences, Biology, and Computer Sciences, follows on from the CNRS multidisciplinary thematic network on research on educational issues, which ran from 2020 to 2023. Its aim is to federate and map educational research conducted in France, which is scattered across a large number of research units, and to promote meetings and discussions in an interdisciplinary approach. More generally, it aims to facilitate research that is in direct contact with all the actors of the French education system in order to promote genuine “translational” research directly linked to education.
This network comprises 97 laboratories or research groups, including 59 CNRS research groups from five different institutes (CNRS Humanities and Social Sciences, CNRS Biology, CNRS Computer Sciences, CNRS Engineering, and CNRS Mathematics), 33 university research groups, the INRIA Center at Bordeaux University, an INSERM unit, the “Institut Français de l’Éducation” (IFÉ), the “Centre d’Études et de Recherches sur les Qualifications (Céreq)”, and ADIREM (“Assemblée des Directeurs des Instituts de Recherches sur l’Enseignement des Mathématiques”). The various groups work on education issues in a wide range of disciplines, including sociology, didactics, education sciences, language sciences, computer science, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, economics and management sciences, history, mathematics… (non-exhaustive list). In all, almost 900 teacher-researchers, researchers, PhD students, post-docs and engineers are included in the mailing list.
The co-directors of the network (MTN and now TN) since its creation in 2020 are Grégoire Borst, professor of developmental psychology and educational cognitive neuroscience at the University of Paris and director of the Laboratory of Psychology of Child Development and Education (LaPsyDé, Paris), and Nicolas Vibert, director of research at the CNRS and director of the Research Center on Cognition and Learning (CeRCA, Poitiers and Tours).
Moreover, the CNRS thematic network on research on educational issues is organized into six Units, each bringing together researchers from several different disciplines:
The four original units that made up the RTP from 2020 to 2023
- Unit 1: “Educational Inequalities”. Coordinators: Alessandro Bergamaschi and Florence Bara
- Unit 2: “Comparative educational policies (organisation and professions, tools, and evaluation)”. Coordinators: Hélène Buisson-Fenet and Xavier Pons
- Unit 3: “Pedagogical practices and tools: design, analysis and evaluation”. Coordinators: Marie-Line Gardes and Olivier Vors
- Unit 4: “Theorising the links with practices”. Coordinators: Vincent Liquète and Aline Frey
And two new cross-cutting units which have been added to the new TN
- Unit 5: “Digital technology and education”. Coordinators: Vanda Luengo and Sébastien Iksal
- Unit 6: “Towards a democratic education: History and current events in discourse and practice”. Coordinators: Sarah Al-Matary and Annabelle Allouch
Lastly, the governance of the network is ensured by two councils in conjunction with its leaders: a Strategic Orientation Council (COS) and a Scientific Steering Committee. The COS works as an interface with the management of the three CNRS Institutes which set up the thematic network.
Composition of the Strategic Orientation Council:
- Deputy scientific directors of the CNRS Institutes of Humanities and Social Sciences, Biology, and Computer Sciences in charge of network follow-up
- Co-directors of the network
- Coordinators of each Unit of the network
Composition of the Scientific Steering Committee:
- Co-directors of the network
- Coordinators of each unit of the network
- A representative of each research group affiliated to the network (normally the network correspondent in the research group)
