Our missions
Four missions for education
The Cnesco carries out its activities marked by:
Misson 1: a high-quality scientific production
Since its creation in 2013, the Cnesco has curated a high-quality scientific content, focusing on international comparisons, through a network of 500 researchers which aims to grow in alignment with the topics addressed. The Cnesco prides itself on delivering original productions and synthesized scientific output to provide fresh insight as well as a facilitated access to the existing scientific research to grassroots policy makers and practitioners.
The Cnesco’s activities focus on school systems in priority but may at some point address issues regarding tertiary education (professional development for education professionals, high school to university transition, citizenship education, student assessment, personalized pathways…).
The characteristics of the Cnesco’s scientific production
The Cnesco takes pride in providing reliable scientific content which rely on:
• A research schedule built on the educational community needs.
• A cross-disciplinary research which draws on a network of French and international researchers.
• Recurring elements for each topic: a scientific report, international comprisons of educational policies and practices and a national overview.
• Original productions conducted by the Cnesco that complete the synthesized research on each topic.
Mission 2: the implementation of a dissemination strategy engaging all the stakeholders
The Cnesco carries out activity formats that foster interaction among researchers, public policy makers and grassroot stakeholders of the educational community (teachers, supervisory staff, students, parents, companies, regional governments, the associative sector, professor-researchers…) based on an editorial policy aimed at making scientific output more accessible to the public.
The Cnesco serves as a hub for the educational community, enhancing collective intelligence and reflection, driven by stakeholders’ inquiries and research findings.
The Cnesco’s activity formats facilitate collaboration among the stakeholders ofthe educational community, allowing them to share their questions, needs, experience, and expertise.
Promoting a scientific culture
All the resources are available to the public through:
• The website, gathering the educational community resources, which provides all kind of editorial formats (scientific reports, summary reports, recommendations, conference records…) to reach a large public.
• The enrichment of public debate since the Cnesco disseminates its findings through media publications. Since its creation, the Cnesco has been referenced in the media more than 2,261 times.
Mission 3: new training opportunities with the Ministry of National Education and Youth and academic stakeholders
The Cnesco’s resources, backed by research, engage grassroots practitioners and policymakers to reflect on current educational practices and policies.
The Cnesco provides training designs and its resources aimed at fostering a shared understanding of research findings and international comparisons on educational issues to address local and professional concerns.
The Cnesco resources for the training of education professionals
The Cnesco has renewed its partnerships with institutional actors in 2021:
• With the General Directorate of School Education (DGESCO) for national training plans.
• With Academic Schools for Continuing Education (EAFC) for the professional development of teacher trainers, supervisory staff or teachers.
• With Higher National Institutes of Teaching and Education (Inspé) for the initial learning of future teachers or the training of teacher trainers.
• With Réseau des Inspé, for the educational and research stakeholders, linked to the 2023 and 2024 Printemps de la Recherche en Education edition.
• With Réseau Canopé, for the professional development of teachers through a research-training-action plan and by organizing twin workshops for the Cnesco conferences and sharing resources produced during the conferences.
Mission 4: an international influence
The Cnesco’s scientific and participatory method that analyze and support educational practices and policies is recognized worldwide by:
- An international perspective consistently included in the Cnesco’s publications.
- A partnership with international researchers and foreign universities such as the University of Geneva (Switzerland) and the University of Liège (Belgium).
- The implementation of international comparisons conferences by collaborating with other institutions. These conferences introduce the scientifically grounded analysis of policies, plans and educational practices implemented abroad to French practicioners.
- Sharing the Cnesco method with foreign and international organizations, including the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Francophone University Agency (AUF), the Conference of Ministers of Education of French-speaking States and Governments (Confemen), the European Network of Education Councils (EUNEC), the Conseil supérieur de l’éducation (CSE).
The Cnesco's expertise for the Confemen
The Cnesco’s expertise has been of help to organize the consensus conference on Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Elementary School in Senegal in collaboration with the Conference of Ministers of Education of French-speaking States and Governments (Confemen).
This consensus conference took place in Dakar on December 5 and 6, 2023, under the co-chairmanship of Justine Coulidati-Kiélem, Assistant Professor and professor-researcher (Université Thomas Sankara, Burkina Faso) and Michel Fayol, Emeritus Professor (université Clermont Auvergne, France).
The consensus conference aims to elaborate recommendations made by a jury composed of 16 grassroots stakeholders (teachers, headmasters, inspectors, parents, local authority representatives…) and co-chaired by Andrée-Marie Diagne Bonané (Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegal) and Éric Roditi (Université Paris Cité, France).
These recommendantions are supported by the international and national diagnosis from Cnesco and by the experts’ work on the conference topic. They focus primarly on improving access to preschool and primary education for children and Senegal and on specific recommendations for teaching and learning mathematics in elementary school.
AI4T: Artificial Intelligence for and by Teachers
The AI4T European project, Artificial Intelligence for and by Teachers, funded by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) is spearheaded by France Éducation international (FEI) and was initiated on February 28, 2021. Over three years, it brought together 17 partners including the Digital Directorate for Education (DNE) and other stakeholders such as Cnesco or Cnam members.
The AI4T European project aim is to explore and support the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the education field through the conception, implementation and assessment of teacher training paths. The hybrid training delivered to participants is composed of a MOOC “Artificial Intelligence for and by Teachers” (from the MOOC “L’intelligence artificielle…avec intelligence”), an open textbook “AI for Teachers, an Open Textbook”, webinars and on-site activities.
The Cnesco facilitated and oversaw the assessment for the consortium on a national scale.
An interdisciplinary and international team of researchers, supervised by the Cnesco, has implemented an assessment protocol across the 322 institutions and 1.005 teachers recruited in the 5 participating countries —France, Italy, Slovenia, Luxembourg and Ireland — during the large-scale experimental phase. The data collected using quantitative and qualitative methods have been analyzed to evaluate the experiment’s impact of training paths resulting in five national assessment reports and an international comparisons report.
