On the move in Haut-Rhin, this Sunday, February 2, the president said he was in favor of “seeing” the duration of school holidays.
“Shouldn’t you see the holidays a bit?” This is the question posed by Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of a trip for the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Colmar (Haut-Rhin). Arrested by a child on the subject this Sunday, the president said he wanted to “reopen” the “question of school time”.
The idea is in reality nothing new. This reduction had already been envisaged by the head of state in August 2023 to reduce the inequalities linked to learning. “Depending on the parents and their profession, the holidays are more or less enriching. Eight weeks, it can be a problem for children who have no opening on culture or nature. After six weeks, there has a loss of knowledge, “confirms for Tf1info Corinne Heckmann, analyst at the OECD Education and Skills Department (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development).
The Observatory of inequalities Also abounds in this direction and notes “considerable differences according to the standard of living: 56 % of children living among the quarter of households at the lowest incomes did not go on vacation, twice as much as those who belong to the high incomes according to the Crédoc, that is to say the most favored quarter “.
Longer vacation than elsewhere?
Another dependent element against school holidays according to Emmanuel Macron: their duration. “France has a longer vacation than in many countries. The question that we can ask for our children is: shouldn’t you review the holidays a bit to be able to relax (sic.) The weeks to learn better, “he offered.
And for good reason: France is indeed among the European countries which offer the most vacation to students in the year, all periods combined, according to the data published by Eurydicethe European Commission network which compares the education systems of the countries of the European Union. In total, schoolchildren have just over 16 weeks of vacation in the year, against 14 on average for other European countries, according to OECD data.
On the other hand, with 54 days of vacation in July and August, hexagon is only at 27e rank of European countries in summer break. It is therefore not because of the summer holidays but rather those scattered throughout the year that France is at the top of the European ranking of the countries granting the most vacation.
Do French students work more?
Despite these regular rest periods, French schoolchildren have nothing to envy their neighbors in terms of attendance. With just over 1000 hours of lessons per year in high school, France largely exceeds the average price of the OECD. In full, French high school students spend about 100 hours more on school benches. For comparison, British high school students have 910 hours of lessons while in Germany, it is 860.
And on the teachers’ side, zeal is not less. According to a report published in December 2022 by the Directorate of evaluation, prospective and performance (DEPP)Statistical service of the Ministry of National Education, “school teachers teach 900 hours a year”. In the other countries of the European Union, the first degree teachers are classified 740 hours on average.
But working more, does not necessarily imply working better. Despite this volume of hours, “the performance of French students at CM1 are under the average of European countries”, notes Eric Charbonnier, expert in charge of OECD education, in Les Echos.
For this reason, the secretary general of SNES-FSU Sophie Venetitay calls to “put the emergency where they are”, rather than to bring out “the idea of school holidays”. “The school is collapsing, there is a lack of teachers, we must recruit and we must above all increase wages and improve working conditions,” she said on franceinfo.