LAM / Sciences Po Bordeaux

A village school in Benin

Between 2012 and 2015, I coordinated together with Hélène Charton our Franco-German cooperation project »Models, practices and cultures of school institutions in West Africa« at the research centre Les Afriques dans le Monde (LAM) of the Institute of Political Science at the University of Bordeaux.

The aim of this six-researcher project was to use empirical case studies from Senegal and Benin to assess the functioning of local educational institutions in a globalised context.

My post-doctoral research project focused on the question of how schools work and what role locally networked school directors, supervisory authorities, non-governmental teacher training institutions and globally operating reform entrepreneurs play in this micropolitical process. My starting points were the classrooms of a village school of about 200 pupils and five teachers in north-eastern Benin, which I studied on site for 11 months over the 2012/13 school year using an ethnographic approach.

As part of this project, the short film »Ici on se débrouille – Le quotidien des écoles au Bénin / The everyday school management in rural Benin« was produced in 2014 in cooperation with Web Edu TV. With Paratéba Yaméogo (camera) and Madina W. Ouédraogo (editing). 10:52 minutes. French / Baatonum with English subtitles. Französische OF

Categories / Education; Project Coordination
Employer / LAM – Sciences Po Bordeaux
Funded by / Agence Nationale de la Recherche
Time / 2012–2015
Places: / Bordeaux, Benin
Fotos / Sarah Fichtner

Selected publications

/ Sarah Fichtner (2016): La fabrique locale des statistiques scolaires: acteurs, enjeux et pratiques au Bénin. In: Revue d'Anthropologie des Connaissances 10 (2), pp. 261–278.

/ Sarah Fichtner & Pauline Jarroux (2015): La micropolitique de l’école primaire au Bénin. Une ethnographie combinée des directeurs et inspecteurs. In: Politique Africaine 139, »Faire l’école«, pp. 63–81.

/ Sarah Fichtner (2015): What’s in the gap and what’s in a copy? Local practices and discourses of competency-based education reform in Benin. In: Revue Tiers Monde 223, pp. 165–182.