Vocation and treatment - Reflections on the vocation of schoolmaster in France during the Third Republic

Life stories of teachers, whether they are self-portraits or not, are often distinguished by what Judith Schlanger call an "intentional discourse" on vocation, which the longstanding moralizing speech about being cut out for teaching amplifies. Since Jacques Ozouf carried out a survey of the Belle E poque's schoolmasters, autobiographies largely contributed to the revival o f the studies of the teaching profession during the Third Republic. Therefo re this article analyses this discourse in order to spot the interaction of ideological dictates and social standards within the dominant representati ons of the profession and its limits.