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Democratization of education is defined as equality of opportunity, aptitudes being equal, of access to further education following the compulsory classes common to all young people. The situation in France is analyzed in terms of school enrollment ratios by social class. The situation in France is compared to that in Great Britain, the United States, Germany, and the people's democracies of central and eastern Europe. The report discusses inequality of opportunity according to economic, cultural, and educational reasons and concludes that equalization of education is a question of political choice. (Author/MLF)

The structures of primary and secondary general education in a number of industrialized countries are compared to show that there are all possible combinations of educational "systems" that are, in most cases, the outcome of a remote historical legacy. This legacy, regardless of its merits, should not be considered as inviolate, but rather should be subjected to new thinking time and time again, to allow for new factors (political, social, economic, cultural, scientific, and so forth) conducive to its evolution. The countries under consideration are the six member countries of the European Economic Community and the United States, Great Britain, and the U.S.S.R. The organizational structures of vocational and technical "secondary" education are not considered. The problems of reforming the structures of secondary education are not abstract: the difficulty does not lie in conceiving a system considered as ideal, but in conceiving transitional systems, concrete ways of changing over from the present parallel stream system to the reformed system, and in accepting the difficulties arising from this transition. (Author/IRT)

In recent years there has been an unprecedented development of educational systems in developing countries. However, analysis of educational and training systems in developing countries shows serious inadequacies, imbalances, and inadaptations. Thus, the remarkable quantitative expansion of educational systems has not been a satisfactory solution to the problems that face developing countries. According to data published by the Development Aid Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, total net public and private assistance in 1968 for all DAC countries was 0.77 percent of gross national product. Altogether, assistance accounts for about 8 percent of total educational expenditures in developing countries. Obviously, any serious study of educational policies can be worthwhile only if it is based on a preliminary study of the objectives and means of promoting economic and social development. If UNESCO could take full responsibility for the technical tasks within its competence in the elaboration of educational development policies, it would help coordinate and give direction to the action of all donor countries. (Author/JG)

This paper describes and compares the processes of economic and social planning in France and the U.S.S.R., with particular emphasis on national educational planning and how it relates to the overall economic plan. Chapter 1 focuses on various aspects of integrating the educational plan into the overall social and economic plan, with particular attention to (1) the major functions of the central planning bodies and (2) the development of the educational system and the fundamental balances of the plan. Chapter 2 focuses on relationships between the characteristics and qualifications of the active population and the development of technical vocational training. Particular attention is devoted to (1) the relationships between employment planning and the development of specialist training in the U.S.S.R. and (2) employment projection in France and the tendency toward second- and third-level technical studies. Chapter 3 focuses on political and administrative aspects of school and university planning, with particular attention to (1) the predominance of political decision-making authority and (2) the distribution of authority between the central planning bodies and the ministries responsible for educational planning. (JG)