The question of the territorialization of educational policies in France, as reflected in decentralization, deconcentration and priority education, is addressed and analyzed using the empirical object of “two-year-old schooling”.

The statistical approach reveals major territorial disparities in enrolment rates for toddlers. This observation requires us to identify the processes, rationales and practices of institutional, political and social players involved in pre-schooling, and to analyze the reasons that lead the State and its decentralized services, municipalities, schools and parents to enroll (or not) two-year-olds.