Physical Education Seminar, January 28, 2022
The EPS seminar this Friday, January 28, 2022, will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Room A109 and via video conference. On the agenda:
1 – Remarks by Fabien Groeninger
The body: the cornerstone of holistic education, a subject of research, study, and teaching, and a political issue.
Abstract: Earlier research by Pierre Arnaud and Georges Vigarello had highlighted a disparity in treatment between intellectual learning—perceived as fundamental—and learning related to the body, which was considered secondary. Ultimately, the French school system has shaped an obedient, tamed, or standardized body through the centuries-old classroom format, where children sit all day. There is a genuine historical taboo surrounding the body in school—specifically, regarding knowledge of the body and taking children’s biological rhythms into account in the learning process.
The body, like emotions, is an integral part of the definition of holistic education, a concept theorized as early as 1869 by the educator and anarchist activist Paul Robin and put into practice at the Cempuis orphanage from 1880 to 1894 with the support of Ferdinand Buisson.
While the concept of integral education was adopted by theorists of the “New Education” movement, during the interwar period it was appropriated by Catholic circles. Since Vatican II, this concept has been consistently invoked, to the point that Catholic education sometimes refers to it as its “anthropological cornerstone.”
Yet a holistic education—as conceived by Paul Robin—that is open, empowering, and democratic can serve as a catalyst for transforming public education. That is the very focus of our research.
This concept raises several questions within the Physical Education and Sports (EPS) field, particularly regarding the relationship between formal and non-formal education, the objectives and challenges of public policy, and the development of a vision for society grounded in emancipatory values.
2 – Remarks by Sylvain Connac
Research Methodology(ies) in the Field of Education
A Phenomenological Approach to Cooperative Learning Situations Through Group Work
Many teachers choose to structure their students’ learning experiences around group work. This approach involves giving students the opportunity, after they have individually reflected on how to solve a problem, to compare their views in order to stimulate socio-cognitive conflict. These disagreements can give rise to cognitive conflicts, associated with a state of uncertainty regarding the reliability of the knowledge they possess to overcome the obstacles they are currently facing. We studied these processes among high school students enrolled in a cooperative classroom project, as part of the Associated Educational Center (Léa) at the Jacques Feyder High School in Epinay-sur-Seine. To this end, we developed a phenomenological methodological approach. This means that we investigated these situations through the perspectives of the students experiencing these group work scenarios, gathered via semi-structured interviews, partially supplemented by simple self-reflections. The findings of this research highlight several key factors for organizing instructional sessions involving group work: the selection of a relevant problem-based scenario, individual preparation time, group work for which students have been trained, measured teacher interventions, specific teacher strategies during group presentations, a connection to formalized knowledge, and the inclusion of a final individual session for immediate, reflective application.
3 – Work on a collaborative publication
Initial Proposals