Michel HELUWAERT

Thesis: Youth & Sports (1936-1986): A government department from activism to management: contribution to the study of administrative matters

Edited by Michel Miaille

Summary:

The Ministry of Youth and Sports, a historic institution founded on the combination of two complex subjects (youth and sports), implemented public policies for societal transformation between 1936 and 1986, driven by a group of civil servants, most of whom had a background in community activism. Thanks to services that were very close to the population and local elected officials, it worked to develop the sports movement and pursued a proactive policy of creating sports and socio-cultural facilities. It established physical education in secondary schools by creating thousands of physical education teaching positions, then undertook the reform of primary school schedules. It has promoted public policies in favor of youth and popular education, established principles for cultural intervention, and, while pursuing a policy of democratization of cultural and outdoor leisure activities, defined the criteria for the qualifications of sports educators and cultural facilitators. Conceived with a missionary spirit, since decentralization it has opened up to a managerial approach, leading to a reform of its structures and the missions of its staff, who, from promoters of social experimentation, must become experts in charge of monitoring legality in their field of action. Throughout this sociopolitical essay, Michel Héluwaert strives to show the importance of the human factor in the constitution and achievements of this task force, considered by some to be "administrative madness," which saw most of its projects implemented between 1936 and 1986. Between these two dates, its actors went from being activists to civil servants. (Back cover)