LAVISSE

12.5 x 18.5 cm / 192 pages / September 2016  

isbn : 978-2-35137-198-5

Edited by François Pernot and Patrick Garcia

In French only

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The Lavisse moment is an essential moment in the structuring of school history. Admittedly, Ernest Lavisse's proposals concerning school history, its content and its pedagogy are not all radically new and are in line with those of François Guizot and, even more so, Victor Duruy. Nonetheless, they represented a major crystallisation period that had a lasting impact on the way in which the aims of school history were conceived, and even on the ways in which it was taught. Vigorously challenged from the 1960s onwards as the expression of a historiography, a conception of the function of national history and outdated pedagogical precepts, the Lavissian definition of what history should be taught nevertheless remains a point of reference. Even today, it feeds a nostalgia for what seems to be a happy time in history teaching. As such, it is more than just a ‘place of memory’, but a constantly updated reference point in the debates surrounding history teaching. The aim of this study day is twofold. Firstly, it will look back at Lavisse's work through his speeches and the teaching methods he used, including the famous Petit Lavisse. Secondly, it will examine the social, public and political uses to which Lavisse's work has been put.