The article discusses some of the fundamental propositions for the organization of school in cycles and their implications, based on the understanding that the proposal of cycles needs to aggregate a new meaning of school to the criterion of non-retention in order to assert its distinction in relation to the proposals of a regime of continued progression. It questions: if the school should change, what would be the principles that orient this change from the perspective of school in cycles? It understands that the debate concerning these policies does not always present clearly the set of principles that substantiates it. The article proposes initially to discuss the pertinence of alluding to psychology as its main reference, before tackling the issue considered as determinant: the dispute between the liberal discourse of equality, with its current variations in defence of differences, and the principle of substantial equality. It approaches the tendency to redefine or even to suppress the principle of equality, which is expressed (1) by the proposition of an "equalitarian liberalism", which tends to substitute equality by equity and (2) by the defence of a principle of diversity as critical of the precept of equality. In contraposition to these perspectives, it underlines the principle of substantial equality (Mészáros) as a general guiding principle in facing social inequalities. Thus, the article indicates the importance of investigating how the proposals for cycles are situated in relation to this dispute.
school cycles; social inequalities; substantial equality
