Falloux Laws

The main objectives of the Falloux Laws was to replace the revolutionary and imperial system, which had placed the whole of the education system under the supervision of the University and of state-trained teachers, who were accused of spreading Republicans and anti-clerical ideas, by a system giving responsibility for education back to the clergy. This aim was largely achieved: the Falloux Law created a mixed system, public (and mostly secular) on one hand, and private and Catholic on the other. This law allowed the clergy and members of ecclesiastical orders, male and female, to teach without any further qualifications. This exemption was extended even to priests who taught in secondary schools, where a university degree was demanded from lay teachers. The primary schools were put under the management of the curés. The Falloux Law created one academy for each department, decentralising the University and thus strengthening the notables' local influence. It reorganised the Superior Council of Education and academic councils, specifically by giving a large number of places to representatives of various religions, above all of Roman Catholicism. Eight University members had seats at the Superior Council of Public Instruction, alongside seven religious representatives (including four Catholics), three state counsellors, three members of the Institute, and three members representing "free" (i.e. private) teaching establishments. Similarly, bishops were included in the academic councils. Primary and secondary education were divided between state establishments, and private establishments, headed by non-profit organisations or religious congregations. Supervision of schools was the joint responsibility of the mayor and the priest. The law more strictly regulated teacher training colleges (écoles normales) and teachers were provided with a guaranteed minimum wage. Any town could transfer its public collège to the Catholic system. All schools were inspected by government officials and the state alone had the right to award the baccalauréat. The law worked as intended to increase the Catholic role. The growth in Catholic schools 1854 to 1867 was 75 percent, as opposed to 34 percent for the secondary school system as a whole. == Historical and political background ==

. The Falloux Law was promulgated in a context in which French Catholics were worried about the increasing role of the state in education since the Revolution of 1789 and the reorganisation of the imperial University. They thought that the imperial education system, inherited from the First Empire's reforms, excessively diffused Enlightenment, republican and socialist ideas. Thus, they wanted the education system to return to its basis during the Ancien Régime. The Bourbon Restoration had in part satisfied these wants, by tolerating teaching by religious congregations, although it still theoretically remained prohibited, and had also granted more weight to bishops in the education system, enabling schooling programs to give more attention to Catholicism. However, the July Monarchy was much less friendly to this reactionary trend. Although the Guizot Law of 1833 partially satisfied Catholics by authorising private teaching in primary education, it kept secondary and higher education under the University's supervision. Guizot also generalised the écoles normales primaires, which were responsible for the training of teachers. First created by the National Convention in 1794, these schools, related to the écoles normales supérieures, were organised on the basis of the 1808 decree organising the University of France, and were accused by conservatives of promoting Republicanism, Socialism and anti-clericalism. == First debates during 1848-1849 ==

After the 1848 Revolution, Lazare Hippolyte Carnot was named Minister of Public Instruction and prepared a draft reform. He named the Republican Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire president of the parliamentary commission which would write the draft. The latter would have made education mandatory for children of both sexes, as well as a three years of training for teachers, subsidised by the state. Although it favoured public schools, it still allowed private teaching establishments. Carnot's draft was however set aside after his resignation on 5 July 1848. Thus, parliamentary debates were resumed. The newly elected President Louis Napoléon Bonaparte replaced Carnot with Alfred de Falloux as Minister of Public Instruction in December 1848, the latter remaining in Odilon Barrot's government until May 1849. The decree of 11 December 1848 made the upcoming law on education an organic law, which should thus be reserved to the Constituent Assembly's initiative. Catholic deputy Charles de Montalembert then described the University's monopoly in the education system as "intellectual communism" and claimed the system was "inferior to that of the Ancien Régime". Article 9 proclaimed that "education is free" ("''L'enseignement est libre''")" while adding that this "freedom of education" was determined by legislation and exercised "under state supervision." While authorising private establishments, this article thus ensured that education in general was placed under the watch of the state. The extent of the latter would be determined by forthcoming laws. On 5 February 1849, Jules Simon presented to the Assembly the draft law, composed of 23 articles. However, Barrot's government claimed that the Constituent Assembly's mandate was coming to an end and that further proposed laws would have to be examined by the succeeding National Assembly. Pressed for time, the Constituent Assembly thus decided to examine the most pressing laws. The deputy Nérée Boubée, a scientist and university lecturer, proposed that the draft education law be one of those scrutinised, but his motion was rejected by 458 votes against 307. == New debates following the May 1849 elections ==

Discussion of the new law would thus have to wait the May 1849 legislative election. But these ones gave an absolute majority to the conservative Parti de l'Ordre, mainly composed of Catholic monarchists, whether Orleanists or Legitimists, such as Falloux who was elected deputy. == Reforms of the Third Republic and afterward ==

The Third Republic abrogated or reformed most dispositions of the Falloux Laws. The 27 February 1880 law reduced the clergy's representation in educational councils. The Jules Ferry Laws established mandatory, free and laic education. The Goblet Law abrogated the first and second section of the Falloux Law. In 1904, among increasing voices to repeal entirely the Falloux Law, the Minister Emile Combes prohibited religious congregations from teaching, including in private schools. However, Catholics responded by creating "lay private schools", where religious education was maintained, although teaching was done by lay people, and not clergy. Vichy France allowed religious congregations to teach again and strongly subsided private Catholic schools. Although these subsidies were interrupted following the Liberation, the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) did not repeal the teaching authorisation given to congregations. The Debré Law of 1959 went further, by having private schools' teachers paid by the state. Although the Falloux Laws have formally been repealed since the promulgation of the Education Code in 2000, several of their dispositions have been retained in the Code and form the main legislative framework for private schools. == References ==

• Pierre Albertini, ''L'École en France. XIXe-XXe siècles. De la maternelle à l'université.'', Carré Histoire, Hachette Supérieur, Paris, 1992. • Carlos Mario Molina Betancur, La Loi Falloux : abrogation ou réforme ?, LGDJ, coll. « Bibliothèque constitutionnelle et de science politique », numéro 104, Paris, 2001, 543 p. == See also ==