Two days before the twentieth anniversary of the 2004 law against wearing ostentatious religious clothing or symbols at school, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal gave an interview to Agence France Presse on Wednesday evening. It is a question of education, with measures affecting both secularism and the creation of level groups in secondary schools, which are criticized by part of the educational world. These are the things you should remember from his statements.
Acting in the light of ‘endangered’ secularism
• “Secularism is under threat. That is probably the case today more than ever. It has its enemies, they are political and religious. But it also has its defenders: our teachers, our civil servants, our police forces.”the Prime Minister launched in the preamble.
• For “an increase in the number of reports for educational disputes”Gabriel Attal promises the creation of “pedagogical support cells” for teachers who want that. These cells will be “immediately accessible to teachers who follow a lesson sequence, who encounter resistance or even challenges in their teaching”.
• In practice this will be the case “a contact person at rectorate level”can offer “three big solutions”. a “accompaniment pedagogical”First of all, “with reference teachers who can give them advice on tackling certain parts of the program”. But also “a physical presence of non-teaching staff within the classroom”. Also mentioned “the physical presence of trained personnel, for example part of the academic teams ‘values of the Republic'”.
The level group will be “the rule”.
• Convinced of the usefulness of level groups, Gabriel Attal assured that this would be the case “Rule” Certainly “at least three quarters of the year” for the teaching of mathematics and French in the sixth and fifth grades next year, as part of the ‘shock of knowledge’ reform. The entire class would in turn form “the exception”.
• There will be “three groups according to the difficulty of the students”said the Prime Minister. “With one goal: so that we can take stock of the level of the students”he added, while the publication of the official texts is expected this Friday.
• Education Minister Nicole Belloubet mentioned last week a “certain flexibility” in the creation of these groups and preferred to talk about them “groups needed”. An expression that reassured the education unions and saw a change in the implementation of this reform.
• The recent statements of Gabriel Attal, who was Minister of Education for six months before being appointed in Matignon at the beginning of January, are nevertheless very clear. The head of government reaffirmed that these groups were indeed “level groups”. “What difference does the name make, as long as there is one size”he summarized.