Bernadette Mouvet

Rationalité des pratiques et conditions de leur transformation

Summary The present article deals with the transformation of teaching practices in the light of recent research carried out in the field of the context‐process approach and of the sociology of education. We distinguish two main lines of reflection: (1) The teaching practices form systems the elements of which are functionally interdependent; (2) The teaching practices result—historically and at a given moment—from a complex interplay between more individual factors (in particular, the hierarchy of the teachers criteria of value) and contextual liberties and constraints (in particular, institutional ones). The former hypothesis leads to the proposed intervention models centred on the modification of key variables of the teaching practice (e.g. the way in which the activities are organised) the transformation of which is likely to transform other elements of the system (the nature of feedbacks, for instance). The latter hypothesis leads to a formulation in terms of both compatibility and feasibility of the...