ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how differences in educational value orientations, resulting from specific historical, economic, social, and political contexts and processes, shape different conceptual constructions of 'difference', belonging and Otherness in schools in France and England. It offers a comparative perspective on primary schooling and education in France and England, before turning to the contentious conception of 'integration'. The chapter examines the different 'philosophies of integration' which underpin each educational system and provides a brief historical overview of approaches to the education of children of immigrants in each country. Despite different value orientations and conceptions of the place of difference and Otherness in school, it is apparent from this chapter that both educational systems remain fundamentally white, Eurocentric, monocultural, and monolingual, inscribed within nationalist and colonial histories.
