Will French students soon see their school holidays decrease? In any case, this is what the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, left (once again) this Sunday, February 2. Questioned on the subject by a child during a trip for the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Colmar in Haut-Rhin, the Head of State announced that he wanted to “reopen the question of school time” to allow students “Learn” better “. “Why are the jobs of time very busy? [Parce] that France has a longer vacation than in many countries. The question we can ask for our children is: shouldn’t you review the holidays to be able to relax the weeks? “Asked Emmanuel Macron.
On January 15, it was Elisabeth Borne, Minister of National Education, who seized the subject in an interview granted to Parisian,, judging that “long cuts [lors des vacances d’été] Translate level losses for the most fragile students. “But do French students really have more leave than their neighbors? The Express takes stock.
Summer holidays vs other leave
With almost 17 weeks a year, France is indeed one of the countries where young people have the most vacation. In the year 2023-2024, French students in primary and secondary cycles benefited from 121 days of leave According to Eurydice. While some border states are far behind this total with 91 days for Germany and 61 for Switzerland, others get closer like Spain with 104 days, Italy with 107, Belgium with 109 and Luxembourg With a total of 115 days.
Note that Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Switzerland being divided into geographic areas with separate school systems, these data vary upwards in certain regions. France does not go up on the podium of countries to the most numerous school holidays and remains behind Malta and the Baltic countries.
But an element should also have attracted the attention of the President of the Republic: unlike the innuendo, France is one of the countries with the least summer vacation. Like the Swiss, almost half of the French students’ holidays are concentrated during the summer period. However, in many states such as Italy, Spain or Malta, these holidays constitute more than half of the total of school holidays. Proof of this is with Latvia where 93 days of vacation out of 128 take place during the summer. With 56 days off during the summer period, France offers less summer vacation than most other European countries. Only Norway, Germany, Denmark, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands and Switzerland count less. Is the length of the summer holidays therefore really the problem?
Holidays, destruction of learning?
In any case, this is not the first time that the subject of school rhythm has been put on the table under the chairmanship of Emmanuel Macron. In August 2023, the head of state had already pointed out the duration of the summer holidays, invoking the learning inequalities that they can generate. “Inequality [des élèves] comes back when you have a three -month vacation. Children return to September 1 with the skills they had a month and a half before stopping the lessons. We destroy in a way from collective learning. […] What is the consequence of this? It is that we stuff the weeks of our children, “he said during a visit to Marseille.
For Claire Leconte, psychologist, specialist in the rhythms of the child and the adolescent, interviewed by L’Express in June 2023, shortening the summer holidays would not allow to “reduce inequalities”. “Some families take the time to meet during the summer, to make board games together or activities other than school. These different forms of learning will also serve them all their lives,” she explained. However, so as not to lose the thread during the summer, the psychologist is categorical: the child must “get back in the rhythm of the school on August 15” while going to bed “at the same time as during the rest of The year to be resynchronized from the start of the school year “. But will that be enough to convince the President of the Republic? Nothing is less certain.