Specialty baccalaureate tests postponed to June, ban on wearing the abaya at school… the main lines of the 2023-2024 school year were discussed in the Council of Ministers last Wednesday, then announced by the Minister of National Education Gabriel Attal.
“I am lucid, there is still a lot to do to overcome the ills of the school”, declared the one who was appointed on July 20 last rue de Grenelle. The fruit of this legacy of decades of underinvestment and lack of recognition of teachers. My mission is to continue to fix the school and our compass is to make the school a place that emancipates and elevates. Update on the announcements of the Ministry of National Education this Monday morning at a press conference.
Lighter classes and new primary school assessments
In kindergarten and primary, priority to reading and writing. “Between 1995 and 2018, international assessments show that students have lost a year of level: a 4th grade student in 2018 will have the level of a 5th grade student in 1995”, illustrated Gabriel Attal who confirmed some of his announcements. from yesterday :
- 100% of classes in large sections, CP and CE1, will be limited to 24 students;
- The duplication of large section classes continues in the priority education zone (ZEP) and school from the age of two will also be extended in the ZEP;
- The implementation of new assessments in CM1: the objective of these assessments is “to objectify the difficulties of each student from the start of the school year”, specified the Minister during the press conference. “CM1 and CM2 should allow you to project yourself confidently towards middle school. » At the start of CM1, students will have a reinforced practice of reading long texts; in CM2 they will have to produce at least one written text per week, “which is not the case everywhere”, underlined Gabriel Attal;
- Reinforced school support. “Every student must be our priority, but we have to try harder for some. Academic success still depends too much on our background and our social level,” recalled the Minister of National Education.
New assessments in 4th grade and generalization of support in college
In middle school, a “new 6th grade will lay the foundations for a new level for middle school students”. The ministry provides in particular for reinforced support in 6th grade “with one hour per week of support or deepening in French or mathematics and the generalization of Homework done”. “A student will benefit from support in reading, writing, fraction or multiplication according to his specific difficulties”. Those whose level is good will be able to “deepen and broaden their horizons and densify their knowledge”.
New assessments in 4th grade are also planned in French and mathematics as well as 2 more hours of sport. He also announced an extension of the collective share of the Pass Culture to the 6th and 5th grades.
Return of maths in 1ère and specialty tests in June in terminale
In high school, it’s the return of maths for all in 1st. “The abolition of math was a mistake, you have to have the courage to say it and recognize it,” acknowledged Gabriel Attal when his predecessor’s baccalaureate reform had abolished compulsory math in high school. He also confirmed the end of the specialty events in March and their return in June. The great oral will be reduced by the five minutes of the orientation project. “We have to win back the 3rd quarter as a whole, not just June. On these subjects, I believe in dialogue. »
Another novelty, the oral French tests at the end of first year will cover 16 texts instead of 20 “to better deepen them and better prepare them for the practice of writing, but the format of the test will not change”
Replacement of absent teachers
Over their entire schooling, a pupil can lose up to a year of teaching with non-replaced absences”, acknowledged Gabriel Attal who put forward the figure of 15 million hours lost per year by pupils: “Half of an administrative organization and we must avoid that the hours of training and pedagogical meetings are given during the hours of class and leave the pupils without solution. »
As part of the Pact, teachers who engage and hold short-term replacement hours will be paid “up to 1,250 euros gross per 18-hour period”.
Ban on abayas
“The relationship between a teacher and his student is not a relationship of equals, there is the one who knows and the one who learns. He who learns must respect the authority of him who knows. Authority is a prerequisite for any transmission”, reminded the Minister of National Education who added: “it must be respected by families. »
On abayas, he also reaffirmed their ban. “Firmness is tested with these phenomena, we must unite and we will unite. It is a choice of loyalty to our values and the refusal of communitarianism. He announced to train 300,000 staff per year by 2025.