At the “school of the 21st century”, will students have fewer summer vacations? In any case, this is the vision of Edouard Philippe, who called for a “reorganization of school rhythms” last week in Bordeaux. The former Prime Minister is relaunching an old debate, notably raised during the 2022 presidential campaign by the environmental candidate Yannick Jadot. Parents of students and teachers are still divided, as shown by the reactions to our call for testimonials.
Jean-Pierre sees this as an opportunity to be seized: “Reducing the number of vacation days would make it possible to have shorter and less intense school days, which would facilitate the assimilation of learning. Antoine would like to take the opportunity to introduce a “German model”, “morning lessons and afternoon activities” – an idea shared by other of our readers, such as Corinne: “It would be much more balanced! »
“The interest of the child”
With sixteen weeks, France is indeed one of the European countries with the most school holidays. But, with 864 hours in the program (against 800 on average), French students have to face particularly dense weeks. “Everything is too condensed, the children are under too much pressure”, underlines Isabelle. “Now, these changes must also be made in the interest of the child. It is certainly necessary to reduce the holidays, but to reduce the hours all the year. »
The teachers who responded to our call are also alerting them to student fatigue. Sarah, a college teacher for fifteen years and a supporter of “spreading the weeks of classes”, notes “that in June, our students end up exhausted. The density of the school year causes stress for some, and great fatigue for all. “Caroline, opposed to the reduction of holidays, judges that” children are made to have a little freedom “: “Let them have their holidays, they need it! »
For or against the modification of the school rhythm, our readers note in any case the many challenges that such a reform would pose. “As the work organization of the parents does not change, the children would stay the same time at school, so the fatigue would be the same”, remarks Amélie. “How will the students do in July or August because of the heat? We don’t have the budget to pay the teachers, we’re not going to put air conditioning in each room…”, reacts Arwen. In short, the debate around school holidays does not promise to be easy.