Jean-Jacques Paul

The recruitment of researchers and the organisation of scientific activity in industry

In the light of supposed increasing demand for science by companies, the relative difficulties in many countries of recent science PhD graduates in finding employment in companies seem to represent a paradox. We can wonder what are the factors that tend to limit the entry of PhD graduates into companies. This article looks at the recruitment and the careers of researchers in industry (emphasising the first aspect) using original surveys carried out in companies, in France, Spain and the UK. The comparison of the case studies carried out in the three countries mentioned above should enable a better understanding of the functions filled by RD laboratories that work in close liaison with university research and have a large proportion of PhD graduates. These results are discussed in the context of change in the management of functions of generating, assimilating and transferring technological knowledge.

Qualidade docente e eficácia escolar

This paper examines the spatial distribution of teachers across the primary school system as a trait of educational policies in Latin America. These policies are generally justified in terms of their impact on the development of equality of opportunities and their emphasis on justice, efficiency and equity. We discuss this question using data from a survey undertaken in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico: in 96 schools located in poor districts of Belo Horizonte, Buenos Aires, Santiago and Guanajuato, we interviewed 96 teachers and principals, tested 2,048 fourth grade students and surveyed their parents. Recent economic and sociological studies have shown that some of the professional characteristics of teachers, especially their experience, can improve the achievements of poor students. But our data suggest that the distribution of teachers across the school system tends to reduce the equality of educational opportunities for these students by denying them the more experienced teachers.

Graduates in the Knowledge and Innovation Society

According to the crucial importance of innovation for modern economies, the role of graduates regarding innovation appears to be a major topic when their performances in the labour market at stake. Five main questions are addressed in this chapter: (1) What does innovation mean? (2) Which organisations are likely to be more innovative? (3) What role do Higher Education graduates play regarding innovation? (4) Are they equipped to do develop innovation? (5) Which are the occupations more related to innovation, and are innovative activities rewarded? The results presented in this chapter confirm that higher education graduates are crucial actors in the innovation process. The jobs of innovative graduates show a number of specific characteristics: a high level of autonomy, more leeway to define their own goals and to perform their tasks. A paradox that emerged is the following: although innovation is more strongly developed in large organisations, small organisations offer graduates more opportunities to play a role in introducing innovations. When earnings are considered, innovative activities appear to be rewarded, in the private sector. That confirms the impression that innovation is recognised as valuable by organisations.

Le Redoublement à L'école: Une Maladie Universelle?

In France, despite efforts on the part of the authorities, grade repetition continues to be practised in schools. Internationally, there is a great diversity of pratice in this area, both in Europe and in the rest of the world. In European countries that use repetition, such as Belgium, France and Switerland, teachers affirm their confidence in the positive results of the practice. Much research, however, indicates that repetition is not beneficial to the pupil concerned. Furthermore, it is possible, using standardized tests developed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, to demonstrate that countries which have abandoned grade repetition have not suffered a lowering of educational standards, nor have they incurred extra costs. One way to reduce the need for repetition would be to give teachers better information on the real potentialities of each pupil, thus helping them to practice a more individualized form of pedagogy.

Study content and process, competences upon graduation and employment

The authors identify the extent to which content and porcess o higher education shape the competences upon graduation and the subsequent employment.

Time allocation during Higher education: a study of Brazilian, French and Spanish students

ConclusionThe results we present enable us to highlight common features and disparities in the way students from the three countries organize their time. While the lecture attendance time varies little from one country to another, it is different for other elements of time use. The Spaniards in particular seem to spend more time on personal work and the Brazilians more often have paid employment. The initial comparison should however be regarded as provisional in that no systematic correlation was made with educational policies in each country. Certainly, the lack of grants system in Brazil is linked to the significant amount of available time spent on salaried work but it would be advisable to include elements allowing us to link time allocation to the inherent productivity of the educational systems (drop-out rate, repetition rate, time necessary to graduate) as well as to their administrative organization.

Education and Employment: a survey of French research ( 1 )

There is little doubt that at the end of the 1 960s, French research into the education-income relationship as a means of analysing also the relationship between training and employment remained unadvanced by comparison with work of this kind undertaken in English-speaking countries. Mainly attributable to a lack of appropriate data, this weakness incited the public authorities to develop, at the beginning of the 1970s, the gathering of such information, first on the cost of education, and then on wage levels. Thenceforth, the education-income relationship was subject to close analysis, while studies were carried out to elucidate the influence of variables other than education itself. Indeed, the need to introduce a greater number of variables in regard to both the description of the individual concerned and to his or her professional environment has since become increasingly clear. The arrival on the labour market of the highly populated post-war generations, the progressive disassociation between training and employment, the diversification of the educational system and the difficulties inherent in employing young people are just some of the factors which have led to the collection of data enabling the processes by which employment is sought and obtained to be analysed in more detail. A large part of our discussion, therefore, will be devoted to studies analysing the entry of young people into working life. At the same time, French research has not been confined to this field. As a result of valuable work focusing on age-income trends and on rates of return, it has been possible to refine the analysis of the influence of several factors linked both to training and to the individual concerned. The macro-economic aspect has also been developed, though it has been less in evidence, mainly because of the inadequate understanding of micro-economic phenomena. Indeed, research conducted within the context of French planning has led to substantial progress in this field. At a conceptual level, recent debate on the concept of skill has resulted in the identification and definition of frequently used but insufficiently clarified terms.

French Engineering Graduates in Corporate R&D: Is It Worthwhile?.

In the early 1990s, several studies pointed out a significant gap in earnings between engineers in private firms working in Research and Development (R&D) and those in other activities. The purpose of this article is to assess, from conventional Mincerian models, to what extent these findings are still valid. The different levels of responsibility and job satisfaction of engineers in both types of activities are also analysed. The results clearly suggest a lower remuneration for engineers working in R&D in comparison to other activities, all things being equal. On the other hand, engineers involved in R&D activities have a greater dissatisfaction about the remuneration they receive, but also concerning many aspects of their work. These results lead to questions about the place of R&D within companies, in a knowledge-based economy.

Petite enfance et scolarisation

Ce dossier presente des travaux recents, emanant de champs disciplinaires differents, concernant la petite enfance et la prescolarisation. S’interrogeant sur les evolutions de l’ecole maternelle et de son positionnement par rapport a l’ecole elementaire et aux structures non scolaires d’accueil et d’education des jeunes enfants, Pascale Garnier fait le constat d’une emprise croissante des orientations proprement scolaires, c’est-a-dire liees a l’ecole elementaire de l’ecole maternelle. Christophe Joigneaux analyse quant a lui, les processus de differenciation et de production d’inegalites des l’ecole maternelle, au sens ou ces processus apparaissent a ce niveau de la scolarite dans des domaines et des pratiques relevant de la raison graphique et de la forme scolaire, et qui sont a la fois pregnants des ce niveau de la scolarite et de plus en plus importants dans la suite du cursus. Ceci conduit l’auteur a interroger et a nuancer la pertinence de la distinction ou du Grand Partage entre formes orales pratiques et formes scripturo-scolaires, pour rendre compte de ces processus de differenciation precoces et des suivants. Enfin, Pierre Roques et al. ont etudie les modes de gestion et d’usage de l’espace interpersonnel chez les enfants de petite section de maternelle. Ils ont mis en evidence trois modes de gestion de cet espace, dont la stabilite durant l’annee scolaire et la mise en relation avec les modalites de participation sociale permettent de penser qu’ils relevent d’un developpement comportemental contribuant a la construction et a la differenciation des capacites interactives des enfants. Ce dossier apporte donc des connaissances et reflexions nouvelles sur un objet, l’ecole maternelle, qui a ete recemment au centre de debats et controverses, qu’il ne manquera pas d’eclairer.

Note de synthèse [Les analyses françaises des relations formation-emploi]

Los analisis franceses de las relaciones formacion-empleo. - La epoca actual ha puesto la educacion en el dominio de lo economico ; por esto hay numerosas investigaciones que tratan de la produccion social de educacion y de las relaciones formacion-empleo. El autor presenta el desarrollo del aparato estadistico y de su estructuracion ; las aproximaciones centradas sobre la insercion y el encaminamiento profesionales, las investigaciones macro-economicas o sociales que permiten la reconstruccion de los hechos observados respecto a las condiciones de la insercion profesional.