Pre-service teacher training in France

From the creation of the college unique (unique school, for everyone) at the end of the 50s, there have been two confronted conceptions on teacher training in France. The college was the result of the merger of two types of schools devoted to the provision of Lower Secondary Education from the beginning of the twentieth century On of them was part of those high schools established at the beginning of the previous century to lead children of the elite up to Higher Education. The other one was gradually appointed to the provision of Primary Education for the children of the nation. Teachers were appointed and training in different ways: in universities, where the training on specialised subjects was highlighted as well as academic excellence, and in the ecoles normales, which conferred great importance to pre-service training of teachers to be. When the statutes, conditions on the teaching practice and the pre-service training of Secondary School teachers was unified, the high school model prevailed over the school one, thus, the latter was drastically dissociated from Primary Education. The democratization of teaching gave rise to a spectacular expansion of pupils along with a deep change as regards its social and cultural features, thus developing new demands in the profession. This article focuses on the significance of the creation of the WPM (Instituts Universitaires de Formation de Maitres - Primary Teacher Training Institutions) in 1989, which made possible the improvement and adaptation of teacher training to the new demands of teaching practices. Then, the development of stages of new training programs and changes in teaching policies, with doctrinaire and union confrontations as a backdrop, are described. The paper ends with future perspectives following the step taken in 2007 towards the inclusion of IUFM into universities, the improvement of training programs and the change in the procedure for the appointment of teachers.