Quelle expérience pour les élèves présentant des troubles du comportement et orientés vers une scolarité spécialisée ? Une comparaison France-Wallonie

In France and Wallonia, children, adolescents and young adults are diagnosed with behavioural troubles that might prevent them from attending school normally. They are labelled the same on both sides of the boarder, and on both sides they must go through the same orientation process toward specialised institutions and education, away from regular educational institutions [Therapeutic, Educational and Pedagogic Institute in France (ITEP), Residential Service for Youth in Belgium (SRJ)]. This article proposes a comparison between the mainstream and specialised social and educational experiences, based on having observed and shared the daily routine of the latter group for an extended period of time. Given that this particular group is cared for differently, its members do not have the same experience of their alienation. If the French and Walloons strive to reach a set of norms in order to shed any labels or stigmata and to delegitimize their specialised education, Belgian youth seems to at least partially accept and interact, socially with its deviant peers, while the French fail to bring them into their “affiliation cycle”.