Governing the academies: Sub‐central secondary education policy making in France

In the context of the growing debate on the reshaping of the state in western Europe, this article maps out the changing relationships between the principal policy actors involved in French sub‐central secondary education policy. Based on extensive primary interviews in two French academies, the article maintains that, while the paradigms of networks and governance are useful in understanding certain features of education policy‐making, they have to contend with the persistence of a particular state tradition which is endemically strong in French secondary education.