Education adviser appointment sparks concern

Education researchers have expressed fears that the French education minister’s appointment of a neuroscientist as his scientific adviser will limit freedom among teachers.

Fifty-five researchers signed a petition titled “Schools need the full range of research”, which was published by the Snuipp-FSU union on 25 November. They were reacting to Jean-Michel Blanquer’s decision to appoint Stanislas Dehaene, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the Collège de France, as chairman of his department’s scientific advisory council.

“In the permanent dialogue that schools must maintain with research, no discipline should be prioritised over others and none should be ignored. Research should not be instrumentalised,” the petition said.