Publish at December 14 2010 Updated April 30 2026
The ultimate aim of the pedagogical act is to foster the child's access to autonomy, an autonomy that is gradually acquired throughout the learning process. The pedagogical relationships forged between the teacher or trainer and the learners along this path involve the exercise of a multifaceted and more or less accepted authority. A publication by Christian Reynaud, Maître de conférences en Sciences de l'Éducation, in the Revue de recherche de l'IUFM de l'académie de Montpellier Tréma caught our attention with its proposed taxonomy of authority:"Trois types d'autorité pour trois modes de relation pédagogique" ("Three types of authority for three modes of pedagogical relationship").
The teacher is led, explicitly or implicitly, to manipulate learners in the sense that he or she leads them, in one way or another through his or her performance, to act for their own good, i.e. to achieve learning objectives. Manipulation is one tool among others for arousing learners' interest and avoiding unpleasant confrontations or passivity, by imposing a dynamic used for "the common good". It is positive, as it aims to lead the manipulated towards a position that is more interesting for them. However, Christian Renault relativizes the effectiveness of manipulation in maintaining a group dynamic in the classroom, since recourse to manipulation may enable the teacher's objectives to be achieved, but at the same time it reinforces a collective belief that legitimizes the use of force in learning arrangements, and thus constitutes power over others.
Manipulation can also be negative, serving only the interests of the manipulator. In fact, human motivation has two aspects: intrinsic, when we draw resources from within ourselves, and extrinsic, when we are driven by external considerations such as the teacher's appreciation or a good mark. What's more, the human being is driven by two motivational systems: first, dependence (seeking the intervention of others) and then, increasingly, responsibility and autonomy, with the two systems alternating from time to time. The risk is to inhibit the learner's autonomy by constantly activating extrinsic factors, as the manipulator comes to use the emotional vulnerabilities of others (need for security and love, fear of the unknown) without their knowledge, to get them to think or act in order to achieve the objective set by the manipulator. And, paradoxically, the latter becomes the manipulator/manipulated, exploiting the potential of manipulation to the extreme in order to control learning.
However, manipulation is not the only means of expressing a teacher's authority. Christian Renault evokes the influence of the learner group and the teacher's accompaniment to identify three types of authority.
The learner must be able to benefit from the contributions of others (and in so doing, identify their strengths and weaknesses) and mobilize his or her own cognitive and emotional resources. Empathy, which enables us to identify with others, can be put to good use in a relationship of influence or accompaniment, depending on the learner's needs: by realizing that others are not so different from me, that they have "good" reasons for doing what they do, saying what they say, thinking what they think, I can consider them as an alter ego capable of deciding their own fate. In this way, we can exploit the human ability to break out of repetitive patterns and experiment with new behaviors.
LIPPITT and WHITE define three types of group functioning:
In an educational relationship, if manipulation can be likened to the first type of authority, and the literal exercise of autonomy to the third type, democratic and participative leadership seems to enable the development of autonomy and responsibility without overshadowing the intervention and support of the teacher or trainer.
For Christian Renault, the educational relationship involves three types of authority: the first, close to what is generally referred to as authoritarianism, would be identifiable because it would correspond to a manipulation of the person to whom the authority is addressed. The second type is associated with a relationship of influence which, although necessary for psychological development, maintains the subject (learner) in a relationship of dependence on the authority. The third type of authority, by making each individual responsible for his or her own thoughts, feelings and actions, would defuse the risk of violence associated with any attempt at manipulation, and would be associated with empowering support.
To improve the effectiveness of educational intervention and enable the emergence of a civic-minded, responsible generation, it is this third type that should be favored.
Further reading: La force de la réaction.
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