The issues of pluralism, equity and inclusion are among the top priorities of the 21st century for education systems. These issues have given rise, in Quebec as elsewhere, to a specific field of public policies and interventions, debates and research for 50 years. This article traces the relatively « successive » appearance of currents - multicultural or intercultural, anti-racist, civic and rights-based, inclusive, still present in the sociology of education today - and shows how they marked (and predominated in) the normative discourses and the field of ethnic studies in education in Quebec during three different periods : the years 1970-1980, 1990-2000, 2010 to the present day. This article outlines the main « currents of ideas » and debates in this field of education during these three periods, and situates these debates in their links, both with the main social issues or significant events in the Quebec context and with the evolution of public policies in this field.