“We are far from last year’s ceremony,” said a participant at the back-to-school press conference of the resigning Minister Nicole Belloubet on August 27. A year ago, Gabriel Attal, then newly appointed head of National Education, rolled out a number of announcements in front of the many journalists gathered in the main courtyard of the Hôtel de Rochechouart. This time, it was in the Condorcet room, much narrower and more hushed, that the traditional exercise that precedes the reopening of schools, middle schools and high schools scheduled for September 2 took place. At the center of the discussions: the future of the Attal reforms that have been debated at length in recent months. What will remain of the projects relating to need groups, the reform of the brevet, the new programs, the labeling of school textbooks or even the initial training of teachers? “Within the ministry, two camps are facing off: on one side, those who are arguing for completing the project that has been launched. On the other, those who, on the contrary, are dreaming of a new change of direction,” confides this senior civil servant who knows the education system well. “It’s hard to know which line will prevail. Everything will depend on who puts down their schoolbag in the office on rue de Grenelle in a few days,” adds Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSU, the majority union in secondary education.
On the ministry side, the watchword in this period of political instability is “continuity”. “For the moment, we are ensuring that we apply everything that has already been discussed, arbitrated, validated and published. We will have to wait for the appointment of a new government to learn more about possible future political orientations”, Caroline Pascal, the new Director General of School Education, recently confided to L’Express. Knowing that the Dgesco acts as “number two” on rue de Grenelle, this appointment made in the Council of Ministers on 16 July is perceived by many experts in the world of education as very “strategic”. The former head of the General Inspectorate was one of the four coordinators of the Requirement of Knowledge mission last autumn (with Edouard Geffray, ex-Dgesco; Stanislas Dehane, President of the Scientific Council of National Education and Pierre Moya, Rector of the Amiens Academy). She has the advantage of being perfectly familiar with the current issues. “Choosing Caroline Pascal means continuing the efforts that have been implemented in recent years and that are going in the right direction,” says Charles Torossian, to whom Jean-Michel Blanquer had entrusted a mission on the teaching of mathematics in 2017.
Conversely, the teachers’ unions, who have been up in arms against the “Clash of Knowledge” reform since the beginning, are calling for the Attal reforms to be abandoned. “Which sort students, select them, cut back on educational freedom and suffer from the lack of resources needed to implement them,” lists Jérôme Fournier, national secretary of SE-Unsa. While Guislaine David, co-general secretary of SNUipp-FSU, describes the current situation as “grotesque.” “Our resigning minister is starting the school year with a policy that the profession fought against massively last year,” denounces the union representative, acknowledging that she places her hopes on the left. “A certain number of deputies from the New Popular Front have laid the foundations for a project for the school system that echoes our own project,” she says. The first measure advocated by the NFP during the last legislative elections was… the repeal of the “Clash of Knowledge.” “I have taught for almost thirty years, in different positions and in several establishments, and I do not know any teacher who is in favour of this plan,” assures PS MP Fatiha Keloua-Hachi, who has just taken over the presidency of the Cultural Affairs and Education Committee in the National Assembly.
“Helping those in the most difficulty to get back up to speed”
But what do the texts say today and what measures have already been enacted? One of the only ones to come into force as of this school year is the establishment of need groups in 6th and 5th grade classes in French and mathematics. And this despite the many disagreements that will have shaken the ministry internally. “As soon as she was appointed, Nicole Belloubet worked to relax Gabriel Attal’s initial project,” says this former rector. The minister, during her back-to-school press conference, officially distanced herself from her predecessor for the first time by declaring: “I insist on the fact that these are not level groups but need groups. With Gabriel Attal, we had agreed to each keep the terminology that suited us best.” On the ground, the measure will be applied differently depending on the colleges. While the unions persist in talking about “social sorting”, LR senator Max Brisson, on the contrary, welcomes the implementation of this measure. “The heterogeneity of classes in middle school is one of the difficulties that teachers who are not in a union or political position talk about quite regularly. Doing remedial work to help those in the most difficulty get back up to speed is a step in the right direction”, explains the former teacher and inspector general.
Other reforms, such as the labelling of school textbooks, will ultimately not have been successful. The one concerning the national brevet diploma (DNB), on the other hand, could well see the light of day during this school year. According to the Minister of National Education, the share of continuous assessment which until now represented 50% of the mark should fall to 40%, the remaining 60% being devoted to end-of-year exams. “These texts on the new assessment methods had to be postponed but they are ready and, as soon as this period of managing current affairs is over, we should ensure their publication so that they can come into force during the 2025 DNB”, she said on 27 August. Provoking the anger of the trade union organisations. “For the moment, there is no text, nothing has been presented to us and it would be totally unacceptable for the rules to change during the year”, warns Jérôme Fournier, from SE-Unsa. The decree providing for making obtaining the brevet compulsory to move up to the second year of secondary school has, for its part, been frozen. “During certain meetings, the minister had made it clear to us off the record that she understood our fears expressed on this subject,” confided Sophie Vénétitay of SE-Unsa. The “second year prep” classes, dedicated to those who failed the final secondary school exam, will however be tested this year, even though fewer than a thousand students have already volunteered.
Although the new French and mathematics programs for cycles 1 and 2 (i.e. from the first year of nursery school to CE2) have been submitted to the Higher Education Council, they have not yet been published. Initially planned for this school year, they have now been postponed until the 2025 school year, unless the future host of the rue de Grenelle orders otherwise. The fact that the deadline has been postponed “is not a problem in itself. On the contrary, since it will allow teachers to take the time to train”, acknowledges Mark Sherringham, the president of the Higher Council of Programs, who is also waiting for the decision of the future Minister of National Education. Finally, the reform of initial teacher training has been postponed, much to the regret of Nicole Belloubet, for whom this issue “must be a priority for the next government”. A government that she would like to be part of, while adding that she is also “capable of going mushroom picking in the fall”. “We need a clear line today after swimming between several waters since 2017, between Jean-Michel Blanquer, Pap Ndiaye, Gabriel Attal and Nicole Belloubet,” insists this regular on the rue de Grenelle who refuses to risk making predictions about the future Minister of Education.
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