The Minister of National Education Gabriel Attal wishes to give the last word back to the teaching staff on the repeating of a student, as indicated in an email sent to teachers this Tuesday, December 5.
It is one of Gabriel Attal’s flagship measures. In an email sent to teachers, this Tuesday, December 5, the Minister of National Education announced his wish to grant teachers “the last word” when deciding whether or not a student must repeat a year due to ‘a level too low to climb to the next floor. “Your opinion regarding the conditions for your students to move to the next class has been made secondary,” regretted the minister in the official letter sent this morning to teaching staff.
A decree will be published from the first quarter of 2024 allowing the teaching team to decide whether to repeat a year, and no longer to the families. A strong decision which may have been motivated by the disappointing results of French students in the PISA 2023 ranking unveiled this Tuesday, December 5, 2023. We learn in particular that France ranks 26th in mathematics, and 29th in understanding of writes it.
However, this novelty is not unanimous. The National Center for the Study of School Systems highlights the lack of results from such a policy among our colleagues from BFM TV : “In the majority of studies, grade repetition has no effect on long-term academic performance. On the other hand, it always has a negative effect on academic trajectories and remains the best determinant of dropout.”