Christian Chartier, a catalyst for the rise and fall of continuing professional development in the Bordeaux region

This article relates the historical transformation of continuing professional development for PE teachers in the Bordeaux academy, from the end of the 1970s to the beginning of the twenty-first century. It is assessed in the light of the trajectory of the actor in charge of its deployment, and of the dedicated professional journal that accompanied his action. After a brief biography of the person in charge and a contextualization of the state of continuing professional development for PE teachers when he took up his post, the study explores the changes put in place, both in the training actions initiated and in the editorial orientations of the appropriate journal. The study then situates the actor’s work in relation to a phase of transition of the PE discipline, from the field of sport, on which it is still largely dependent, to that of the school world. Through the skill and extent of the actor’s network, it shows that the hypothesis of individual initiative in historical change can be meaningful in certain circumstances.