ABSTRACT:
The history of the French public administration in education is strongly linked to Napoleon's legacy and the birth of the Third Republic. The importance of legalism has had an impact on the action of policy-makers, inspectors and principals at different hierarchical levels, and it places them in positions of command, authority and subordination. Because of the weight of public services in France, and the weight of public servants, it is mainly the State which is transformed with some effects on the sector of education. This bureaucratic order is today challenged by the implementation of the new public management. The act of modernization of public finances has reorganized public expenditures in education according to large programs implementing the 3 principles of NPM: economy, efficiency, effectiveness. However, France has developed a soft accountability without a school market. It is also a NPM without much decentralization and flexibility. However, the next step could be the restructuring of the professions in education while other sectors of public policies, such as health, have already known important changes in their organizations and conditions of work. To better understand the project of modernization and new public management in the education sector, it is also important to relate it to some important and global transformations within the central State. Politicization of high rank policy makers, diversification of services and responsibilities, individualisation and mobility, pay-related performance are some main components of the deregulation of the State which impacts professionals in more subtle and invisible ways.
Keywords:
New public management; France; Education; Economy; Efficiency; Effectiveness; Accountability.