This text presents the results of two questionnaire-based surveys conducted with future primary school teachers in Quebec, concerning the overall educational aims associated with different school subjects. Analysis of the results shows that the contributions from school subjects are primarily defined according to their ability to equip students for everyday life in social microcosms. Indeed, school subjects are considered useful in meeting individual needs rather than at social and scientific levels. In this sense, students would be led to acquire and manipulate disciplinary knowledge without being aware of the underlying problems and premises from the process through which such knowledge is produced. Disciplinary knowledge would thus become a neutral tool serving the subjectivity of the student. Focusing on the instrumentalization of the individuals suggests an attitude of concern seeking to protect students from the risks of life.
educational goals; school subjects; future primary school teachers
