Iris Portoleau's contribution to ESFO 2025 conference

« S’adapter pour décoloniser ? Les cas de la Kanaky-Nouvelle-Calédonie et de la Polynésie française »

Abstract :

n this presentation, I wish to explore the issues raised by the adaptations made to the teaching of history and geography in French Polynesia and Kanaky-New Caledonia. Adaptations are nothing new; they were already widespread in the French colonial empire during the colonial period. These adaptations were interrupted by an assimilationist policy during the 1960 before being debated again from the 1970 onwards, this time with an eye to the questions of decolonization and the independence of the territories. During the 1980, some alternative schools were created in Kanaky-New Caledonia in opposition to the French school system, which was seen as "colonial". Since these political claims on education, responsibilities for education have gradually been transferred to the two territories. Despite these transfers, the territories adapt only 15% of the secondary history and geography curricula nowadays, with these adaptations being limited by the continuation of national examinations and by the authority that the French state retains over education. The adapted sections are therefore the subject of heated debates, showing strong political and social divisions which are reflected in the diversity of pedagogical practices among teachers. In this presentation, I will examine the purpose of the adaptations implemented since the 1980s and the gap between the planning of these adaptations and the way in which they are or are not implemented in schools.
Adapting to decolonize ? The cases of Kanaky-New Caledonia and French Polynesia