66

Teachers are now facing a complete redefinition of their jobs owing to mass education and the introduction of new tasks. The policy of measuring the efficiency of the French educational system makes the tension between prescribed and real work even more acute. Teachers therefore resort to deception. Is this similar to the survival strategies described by Woods? The analysis of examples and recent ethnographic studies suggest that these forms of deception show a failure to adapt and are proof of a capacity to adjust one’s actions to make work possible. Depending on the situation, deception is defensive or shows individual inventiveness and the ability to act collectively. It can also be a source of suffering or pleasure at work.