Apart from parents of initiated students and education professionals, the acronym “IPS” is still relatively unknown to the general public. And yet, its role has proved crucial in recent months. The highlighting of this famous social position index, a tool that makes it possible to determine the social profile of a pupil – and therefore of an establishment when the average of all the IPS of the registered students is taken – has made it possible to relaunch the debate on the lack of diversity at school. A phenomenon often denounced but little supported by precise figures so far. For months now, Pap Ndiaye has been promising the implementation of an action plan, based among other things on these new data.
This Thursday, May 11, the ministry brought together all the rectors in order to set them objectives aimed at reducing “the differences in social recruitment between public establishments by 20% by 2027”. After a reminder of the various levers made available to them, they were “asked to create before the summer an academic body for dialogue, consultation and management of social and school diversity, associating local authorities, representatives of establishments and parents of students, to share the findings and prepare actions adapted to each territory to advance diversity”, we detail rue de Grenelle in a press release for the less laconic. Specialists in the education system did not really expect revolutionary announcements. “I don’t believe in the big night”, confided the economist and researcher Julien Grenet a few days ago. “It is by setting milestones based on the various experiments carried out on the territory, by establishing objectives and by raising awareness in the academies that we will manage to gradually mobilize all the actors around this crucial subject”, continued the specialist. , acknowledging that the prominence of IPS represented a turning point a few months ago.
A statement shared by the association No Ghetto, a collective which campaigns for “a greater social and origin mix in colleges”. “Before we heard about the IPS, our interlocutors tended to minimize. For some, the inventory that we drew up was of the order of fantasy. Today, politicians from all sides contact us for us ask how to act,” says one of its members, Farid Ben Moussa. To understand how the IPS have changed the situation, a step back is necessary: in 2016, the statistical service of the Ministry of National Education (the DEPP) developed this new tool – which establishes calculations according in particular to socio-economic categories. – professional parents of pupils – intended to allow a better evaluation and a more detailed analysis of the education system.
Some academies will refer to it in order to better distribute operating resources, in particular by increasing the allocations granted to establishments with the lowest IPS. The Affelnet system, in Paris, also uses it in the context of assignments in second class: students who have attended a more socially disadvantaged college benefit from a bonus which amplifies their chances of accessing the high school of their choice. The problem is that for years these statistics will not be made public. Until a journalist, Alexandre Léchenet, begins legal proceedings that will last three years. On July 13, 2022, the administrative court renders its decision and obliges National Education to publish this data.
“A quantified and indisputable inventory”
Since last October, everyone has therefore been able to consult the IPS of the colleges in their district, via a database with free access on the Internet. A crucial step, judge Rémy-Charles Sirvent, national secretary of SE-Unsa, who likes to use the metaphor of a silver photo laboratory: “You are undoubtedly familiar with the process which consists of plunging an all-white paper into a bath called developer in order to to reveal a pre-existing image, he argues. This is exactly what happened with the IPS which made it possible to draw up a quantified and indisputable inventory, confirming the existence of social segregation in school in our country. The figures are now well known: the average national IPS for colleges is 103.36. The lowest rate, recorded in an establishment of the academy of Guyana being 51.3; while the highest, noted in the academy of Versailles reaches 157.6.
What is most striking is the gap, sometimes huge, that can exist between two establishments that are nevertheless located in the same district. And Farid Ben Moussa gives the example of the agglomeration of Lyon: “You have, on the one hand, the Alain college in Saint-Fons which has one of the weakest IPS (66.6). the other, the international school district of Lyon, which has the highest rate (146.6). However, these two public establishments are only 6 kilometers apart!”. The No Ghetto association will be the first to establish a map based on the IPS of the various establishments in the Lyon area, followed by actors from other academies.
The IPS have also made it possible to draw attention to the major disparities between public education and private education. Here again the figures are eloquent. Private colleges under contract enroll less than 17% of students from disadvantaged social backgrounds and concentrate 40% of highly privileged students. Strictly inverse proportions in the public. “These disparities are now proven and therefore even less acceptable. Especially when we know that the private sector under contract is 75% financed by local authorities and the State”, insists Julien Grenet who welcomes the current “awareness”. . “It now appears clearly that there is a form of contradiction between this massive public funding and the total absence of conditionality in terms of recruitment on the side of private education under contract”, continues the researcher.
Minister Pap Ndiaye kept repeating that the private sector had to “take its share”… while ensuring that he did not want to “reignite the school war”. Reference to the Savary bill which, in 1984, had generated enormous demonstrations. For its part, Catholic education (which includes 97% of private students under contract) has not rejected the idea of contributing to the effort of coeducation… while setting its conditions. “We will not accept quotas, or attachment to the school map, or compulsory assignment of students” recently warned its secretary general Philippe Delorme in an interview with Liberation. A memorandum of understanding should be signed around May 17.