ABSTRACT
It is a fact which needs to be remembered without being exaggerated that sociology was not admitted wholesale to the Sorbonne but rather insinuated itself through the narrow gate of educational theory. In 1902 Durkheim was appointed as the deputy of Ferdinand Buisson, whom he succeeded in 1906, and given responsibility for teaching the science of education. Moreover, his teaching at Bordeaux had prepared him for this since a large part of it had always been devoted to this discipline. It will be seen that this course only partially comprised new work. It came after long years in the course of which he did not cease to be concerned with the problems of education and teaching. Moral education, child psychology, the history of educational doctrines: Durkheim had successfully adopted these three perspectives which constitute classical educational theory. There is scarcely a province in this area which he did not explore. And not only in order to carry out a task which was required of him. It was a part, and also one of the essential practical applications, of the science of man which he believed fully deserved the effort he devoted to it.
