Abstract This text addresses the problems related to the policies of democratizing basic education in France. It focuses on secondary school, considered the weak link in the French educational system. The article begins by questioning the conceptions, models, ideologies and possible conditions underlying the project of “sole secondary” school. As a project for openness and unification, this model, far from contributing to the lessening of social inequalities, has increased them by restricting access to the appropriation of knowledge and intellectual skills. Debate is centered on whether secondary education should be unified or diversified. An analysis is also made of the contradictions, polemics, and discouraging effects of various government strategies, such as the policies of Priority Zones of Education (aimed at the most disadvantaged groups), school autonomy, and the educational project.

Resumen Este texto aborda, entre otros aspectos, la problemática relativa a las políticas de democratización de la educación básica en Francia y, particularmente de la secundaria, considerada el eslabón débil del sistema educativo francés. Partir del cuestionamiento de las concepciones, los modelos, las ideologías y las condiciones de posibilidad subyacentes en el proyecto de “secundaria única”. Este modelo, como proyecto de apertura y unificación, lejos de haber contribuido a aminorar las desigualdades sociales, ha producido su incremento con respecto al acceso a la apropiación de saberes y habilidades intelectuales. El debate se centra en el cuestionamiento: ¿unificación o diversificación de la educación secundaria? También se analizan las contradicciones, las polémicas y los efectos desalentadores de varias estrategias gubernamentales, como las políticas de Zonas Prioritarias de Educación -destinadas a los grupos más desfavorecidos-, la autonomía de los centros escolares y el proyecto escolar.

Nos últimos 20 anos, a noção de relação com o saber difundiu-se e foi usada amplamente, tanto na esfera da pesquisa em educação quanto nas da formação de docentes e de profissionais do sistema educacional ou do debate social relativo à escola. O êxito teórico e institucional, e até mesmo mediático, do sintagma relação com o saber indica, creio eu, convergências reais que, no entanto, não devem minimizar as questões e os debates teóricos e sociais por ele suscitados. Refletindo sobre os debates suscitados pelo uso, em perspectivas e quadros teóricos distintos, por diferentes pesquisadores e coletivos de pesquisa, de noções semelhantes (de relação com o saber, mas também de experiência escolar, por exemplo), o objetivo deste artigo é tentar esclarecer os desafios teóricos, empíricos e sociais desses debates e neles haurir novos recursos para pensar e agir.

During the last 20 years, the notion of relation to knowledge has become disseminated, and it has been widely employed in the fields of education research, education of teachers and other professionals in the education system, and in the social debate about school. This theoretical and institutional - and even mediatic - success of the relation to knowledge syntagm signals, in my view, to real convergences that, however, should not diminish the importance of the theoretical or social questions and debates this notion elicits. Reflecting on the debates raised by the use by various researchers and research groups of similar notions (of relation to knowledge, but also of school experience, for instance) under different perspectives and theoretical frameworks, the objective of this paper is to clarify the theoretical, empirical and social challenges entailed by these debates, and extract from them new resources to think and act.