“To achieve the ambition that we have set ourselves, so much remains to be done, I am perfectly aware of it”, declared the new Minister of National Education Gabriel Attal during the handover of power on July 20 on the steps of the hotel Rochechouart. The successor of Pap Ndiaye has for him to be familiar with the place since he officiated there, at only 29 years old, as Secretary of State to Jean-Michel Blanquer between October 2018 and July 2020. He is, at at the time, in charge of setting up the universal national service (SNU), a file then difficult to defend with the teachers’ unions traditionally classified on the left. Many of them now say they fear an overly “conservative” approach from the new host on rue de Grenelle who, as soon as he took office, insisted on his desire to “restore respect for authority and fundamental knowledge at the heart of the school. In the field of education, the one who is often presented as “the good student of Macronie” first made his classes as a deputy in 2017 and 2018. A look in the rear view mirror and the he analysis of the reports of the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education, on which he sat for a year and four months, shows a rather “social” approach to educational subjects.
In any case, this is the guideline he defends during a press conference given to the Association of Parliamentary Journalists (AJP), on April 11, 2018. Asked about his past as a socialist activist and his rallying, by Subsequently, in La République en Marche, the deputy Attal then declared to have kept “a social sensitivity”. “This social sensitivity pushed me to defend and carry with conviction and vigor everything that we are carrying”, explained the former member of the cabinet of Marisol Touraine, Minister of Health under the presidency of François Hollande. And the deputy to take the school as an example and to praise the duplication of the classes of CP and CE1 in the establishments classified REP and REP + carried by Jean-Michel Blanquer. “A measure which is aimed at children who are less fortunate than the others”, insists the one who then takes on the function of “whip”, the name given at the time by the LREM group to the eight deputies responsible for coordinating the Macronist troops.
Within the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education, Gabriel Attal is gaining visibility by taking on the role of rapporteur for the bill relating to the orientation and success of students (ORE) which will lead, among other things, to the creation of the Parcoursup platform to replace the very controversial APB (Admission post bac). “As a 28-year-old MP, I am really delighted to be the rapporteur for this bill, for this beautiful piece of social progress that speaks directly to my generation and will enable it to succeed and nurture great ambitions for the future”, he explains to the commission on December 5, 2017. One of the reasons for this bill is in particular to put an end to the use of lotteries in certain sectors under tension. In February 2018, during the hearing of the Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer and Pierre Mathiot, university professor who is piloting the reform of the baccalaureate, Gabriel Attal addresses the crucial question of orientation. “I would like to know if you are planning a directive defining a national framework, in order to guarantee that, in all high schools in France, students will have the same tools to orient themselves and pursue the higher education they want”, questions- he. Inequalities that persist today… Gabriel Attal, in his new minister’s costume, will he take the subject head on? Regarding the reform of the baccalaureate, he has already promised adjustments which should in particular concern the timetable of the tests.
On April 2, 2028, Gabriel Attal, invited on France Inter to talk about the blocking of universities, also reacts to the SNCF strike which he says he does not understand. “We have to get out of the gréviculture, he says, get out of the movements that arise even before the reform is announced, it is perhaps more cultural than legislative”. Faithful to the policy of “at the same time” Gabriel Attal does not hesitate to send signals on his right. From his first year as a deputy, he showed an interest in the new universal national service (SNU) project which will see the light of day in 2019. On July 24, 2018, the parliamentary committee heard General Daniel Ménaouine, rapporteur for the working group on the subject. Gabriel Attal opens the question session and praises “this structuring social project”, behind which “there are values, that of commitment, that of cohesion, of diversity”.
A “strong defender” of the UNS
That day, his questioning focused on “the modalities of social mixing”. “How do you intend to involve together, in the same teams, young people from rural areas and others from urban areas, young people from high schools located in REP and others from perhaps more privileged areas, young school dropouts and young people perhaps “in advance” or who do not have these difficulties?”, he launches. The new Minister of National Education told Le Figaro on July 27 that he was “a fervent defender” of the SNU. “The objective is to generalize it a little more each year. The real subject will be that of a possible obligation; personally, I wish so”.
During the various meetings of the parliamentary committee which the deputy Attal will attend, the relations between parents and school will also be discussed. In January 2018, faced with the rapporteurs of a “flash mission” devoted to this subject, the elected representative of Hauts-de-Seine highlights the situation of single-parent families faced with “specific problems in terms of reconciling professional life family, in terms of the availability of the blow to accompany the children”. “Is this something you’ll be working on?” he asks. The question of the presence of parents alongside their children was raised at the time of the riots at the beginning of the summer, after the death of young Nahel. For his first trip as Minister of National Education last July, Gabriel Attal rightly chose La Verrière, a small town in Yvelines where two schools were burned down. The opportunity for him to recall his “firmness” on the “question of respect for authority”.
During his recent trip to Reunion, the new minister also stood out from his former counterpart Jean-Michel Blanquer about the back-to-school allowance which the former host on rue de Grenelle had said was was sometimes used “to buy flat screens”. “I have never understood these controversies. If the back-to-school allowance allows you to have the fridge repaired, even to have the car repaired, to pay bills that are overdue, it’s also good for the children, declared Gabriel Attal on August 16 to France Inter. It would be hiding behind your little finger not to consider that the back-to-school allowance is a form of social minima, regardless of the educational vocation”
During his visit to the National Assembly, Gabriel Attal also showed concern about the role of screens. During the examination of the bill relating to the prohibition of the use of mobile phones in schools and colleges, in May 2018, the deputy spoke to the rapporteur of the text: “You mention in your report the rule of the psychiatrist Serge Tisseron called “3-6-9-12″. This is not the strategy of a football match but a recommendation relayed since 2011 by the French Association of Ambulatory Pediatrics. This rule encourages parents and educators to ensure that their children and students are gradually educated in digital tools”. of cyberbullying who took his own life on May 12. This raises the question of the role of parents, who are responsible for carrying out their mission of control and prevention.The theme of bullying, and therefore the role of screens and social networks, will be one of the subjects of this new school year, as the new minister has promised.
Finally, during his term of office, Gabriel Attal had castigated the rejection of the Senate, at first reading, of the bill relating to the fight against the manipulation of information. “A slow poison for our democratic life”, he declared in October 2018. For him, “awakening the critical sense of young people” is indeed a matter for National Education. On May 28, 2019, once appointed Secretary of State to Jean-Michel Blanquer, Gabriel Attal defended his action before the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education. The opportunity to address these themes of “living together” and “commitment” which are dear to him. The new member of the government Philippe had raised the importance of moral and civic education (EMC), too often considered, according to him, as “an adjustment variable for history and geography teachers when they want to finish the program”. A reform of the EMC is currently underway as recalled by Emmanuel Macron in Le Point on August 23. Gabriel Attal’s past remarks suggest that he will pay particular attention to it.