This paper describes English and French modes of regulation of the educational system, stressing the contrast between them (regulation by process versus regulation by outcomes), while their goals and organisation prove rather more convergent over the last 30 years. It tries to assess the correspondence between those two ways of operating and what we know about the functioning of organisations like schools. From that point of view, the French system fits the economic theory of organisation less well than the English one, so that some contradictions and tensions are predictable. Last, it looks for some relationhip with indicators of effectiveness, equity and social satisfaction towards school in the two countries. No clear relationship emerges at the present time, but the analysis may help predict some problems that lie ahead.