The French connection at the Council of Europe: éducation permanente as a pan-European policy repertoire

• Published in: International journal of lifelong education Vol. 41; no. 4-5; pp. 476 - 492
• Main Author: Hake, Barry J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Routledge 03.09.2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Activism; Advocacy; Anglophones; circulatory regime; Cosmopolitanism; Democracy; Education policy; Educational Change; Educational Cooperation; Educational History; Educational Innovation; Educational Philosophy; Educational Policy; Educational Practices; Foreign Countries; francophone; International Cooperation; International Organizations; Lifelong learning; Militancy; Nongovernmental Organizations; permanent education; Policy Formation; policy repertoire; Political Attitudes; rooted cosmopolitans; Transnationalism; Éducation permanente; France; Europe
• ISSN: 0260-1370; 1464-519X
• DOI: 10.1080/02601370.2022.2113924

This paper examines transnational circulation of political and pedagogical ideas associated with éducation permanente with particular reference to post-war Western Europe. It offers a socio-historical reconstruction of pan-European dissemination and reception of policy repertoires articulated by governmental and non-governmental policy actors. It focuses on advocacy regarding permanent education as a pan-European repertoire associated with the Council of Europe during the 1960s and 1970s. The paper explores involvement of French and other francophone nationals in circulatory regimes, who were engaged in mediating partisan reform aspirations, exchange of information, and dissemination of innovative practices at national, transnational, and pan-European levels. The more specific focus of this paper addresses participation of 'rooted cosmopolitans' in policy formation, who are defined as policy actors rooted in specific national contexts, but who engage in regular activities involving their participation in transnational networks. The conclusions call for further research into circulatory regimes at local, sub-national, regional, national, bilateral, transnational, and pan-European during the 1960s and 1970s. Such research should focus on revisiting different expert, reformist, missionary, and militant networks responsible for building peripatetic 'scholar-militant-activist' coalitions that historically contributed to pan-European policy repertoires seeking to mobilise citizens to participate in the unfinished political project of pan-European cultural democracy.