A “major experiment” on school uniforms will be announced before the end of the year, declares Gabriel Attal

Following the presentation of the “clash of knowledge”the Minister of National Education clarified this Wednesday on France Info the outlines of his plan aimed at provoking “a boost for the future of our school”. And announced the launch of a “extensive experimentation” on wearing a uniform at school. The latter will be detailed by the Christmas holidays, added Gabriel Attal, who wants families not to have to pay the price of the outfits. “I am not yet convinced that this is a solution that would resolve everything (…) There will be real research monitoring to measure the effectiveness of this experiment”he explained.

Another measure concerns the removal, from this year, of the criticized “academic correction”, which allows the upward harmonization of baccalaureate and certificate marks. “We are prepared for graduation rates to drop. Exam results must reflect the real level of students”justified Gabriel Attal. “And I assume that we will probably have a lower success rate for the baccalaureate and the patent”he added, while the results of French students reach peaks since the baccalaureate reform led by Jean-Michel Blanquer – 91% success in the 2023 baccalaureate. “It’s the end of the uniform college, the one that doesn’t take heterogeneity into account”he concluded.

Make “tailor-made”

Likewise, to help students progress in mathematics – their level is plummeting, according to the latest Pisa ranking – and in French, the former Minister for Public Accounts announced on Tuesday the creation of level groups in these subjects from 2024 in sixth and fifth grade, with reduced numbers for the groups of students with the most difficulty. This organization will be extended in 2025 to fourth and third grade classes. Concretely, the minister detailed this Wednesday, the students will take a “positioning test” and will be distributed by group according to their results.

These groups will be “flexible”. In other words, a student can change group during the year depending on whether he progresses or regresses. “The objective is to make tailor-made products”, added Gabriel Attal. These level group lessons will represent a third of the students’ time. In groups of students in difficulty, the number of middle school students “will not be raised”.

To carry out this measure, the ministry will have to recruit teachers in both subjects. A challenge, as competitions attract fewer and fewer candidates. Gabriel Attal deliberately intends to raise the salaries of teachers and reform their training and practice conditions.

“Mathematical burst”

Finally, the former government spokesperson outlined the outlines of the new anticipated mathematics and scientific culture test that first grade students will take from the 2025-2026 school year. “We need a mathematical leap in France. If we want our country to keep its technological and digital sovereignty, if we want good engineers, we need a start”justified the former Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts.

According to Gabriel Attal, this ordeal especially “symbolic”in his own words, will allow “to raise the level of requirements upstream”. This test will be written. And there could be two subjects, depending on whether a student chose the mathematics specialty or not.