NATIONAL EDUCATION REFORM. Emmanuel Macron detailed the main measures of his education program on Thursday March 17. The Head of State promises “a new pact” with teachers, better support for students and greater autonomy for teaching teams.
During the presentation of his program, Thursday, March 17, in Aubervilliers, Emmanuel Macron defended his record in education during his five-year term. The candidate for his own succession notably considered that the “results are there” for the priority education networks (REP) and promised to intensify the means to transform and renovate a “padlocked” school system. “If I had to sum up our system, our teachers do not feel recognized and they are right. Families are faced with problems of absenteeism (…) and children continue to lack confidence.” The Head of State hopes that the efforts made during his mandate will pay off. “The investment will be seen in a few years,” he said. After taking stock of his five-year term regarding education, the presidential candidate LREM unveiled several proposals from his program.
This is Emmanuel Macron’s first step if he is elected in the presidential election on April 10 and 21. “A broad consultation to discuss the best way to achieve national objectives” at the start of its second five-year term. This large meeting should allow “collective work at the local level, with all the stakeholders, consultation on the ground.” Among the actors invited to respond to the call, we find teachers, administrative teams of establishments, parents of students, associations, but also elected officials “to change the mode of operation.” A first measure which aims at “new forms of organization”, particularly at the regional level. “The programs and examinations remain national, but we must assume more freedom”, he underlined.
The main axis of Emmanuel Macron’s policy in the event of re-election concerns the teachers to whom he promises “a new pact”. “If we leave things as they are today and take refuge behind an equality of principle which is not real. We are not fulfilling the mission,” he said. This desire of the President of the Republic is explained in particular by the absenteeism of teachers. The Court of Auditors estimated last December that this phenomenon “comes from the very functioning of National Education”, in particular with compulsory continuing education which encroaches on teaching hours.
The Head of State wishes to set up a system based on volunteering with “new missions for teachers, new ways of getting involved in educational projects: student monitoring, support, extracurricular activities…” Thus, the teachers who are “ready to commit” will be increased. “I am ready to say that the teachers who do not wish to do these missions then their remuneration will not be increased,” he said. A double-edged measure that varies “depending on the territory” or the activities supported by the teachers. “I assume it because they (the teachers) do not all do the same thing (…), we know it”, he added.
Emmanuel Macron’s program promises more freedom for schools. It is necessary “to value field expertise and give more freedom to teaching teams, sometimes to recruit on profile.” To broaden the scope of action of school directors, the presidential candidate wishes to “make available the results of all the evaluations” of a class or an establishment. A way, according to him, “to disseminate good practices” in other regions. “We must be able to give the means to the school principals, to the teaching team to measure the changes and not only with the visit of the academic inspector every X years”, he declared.
Mathematics is making a comeback. A veritable black hole of the baccalaureate reform, the subject is no longer compulsory in general high school. The candidate president promises to reintegrate it into the common core after having noted the drop in the number of students who choose mathematics as an option. Other subjects are also in the sights of the Head of State, in particular the teaching of physical education and sports in primary and middle school, which he wishes to strengthen, as well as the teaching of artistic education and cultural. The “culture pass” could be applied from college. Finally, the orientation of the students will intervene “from the fifth to better know the trades.”