ABSTRACT
Summary: After giving a few landmarks in the growth of the idea of a special time devoted to educational activities, this article defines the concept of educational leave in the present French context. The main regulations and the six different possible types of leave are examined. Then a preliminary evaluation is made of the use of French educational leave as established in 1971 and of the main reasons for its rather limited success: the difficulty for workers in making up a personal and individual training plan; the lack of remuneration for certain courses, especially the cultural ones, and for the various costs attached to the education process; the lack of information about educational leave for a great part of the French population, especially those most in need of information.
Describing the innovations in educational leave generated by the recent law of July 1978, this article sketches the present scope of adult education and the factors which may be important in the future in increasing the use and impact of educational leave. The conclusion is devoted to a more general reflection about the role of education in the present underemployment crisis and in the perspective of industrial democracy.
