At the beginning of the next school year, the 6th and 5th grade classes are divided into groups for French and math lessons. This Sunday, March 17, the Official Journal published the decree on the famous level groups that Gabriel Attal wanted. We explain to you what these texts mean.
The 2024 school year will see another change. The decree that organizes level groups in secondary school classes for teaching French and mathematics was published in the Official Gazette on Sunday, March 17. If the concept of level does not appear there, it is the formulation of a group “composed according to the needs of the students” that has been retained.
This decree comes into effect this year for classes of 6e and 5ethen at the beginning of the 2025 school year for 4-year-old studentse and 3e. According to the terms of the text: “The common lessons of French and mathematics are organized, throughout the timetable, in groups for all classes and levels of the college”.
These groups will therefore be formed based on the student needs identified by the teacher. And if the qualification ‘level’ is not mentioned, ‘the groups of students with the most difficulties (still) benefit from lower numbers’.
Groups that can be changed during the year
However, this order does not mean the end of the entire class. “By way of derogation, and to ensure the consistency of the educational developments of the different groups, students may be grouped for one or more periods, one to ten weeks per year, in accordance with their reference class for these lessons. ”, specifies the text.
During the year, these groups may be re-examined by teachers and their composition may be changed, “especially during regroupings, to take into account the progress and needs of the students”. Nicole Belloubet, Minister of National Education, made it clear that there would be “a certain flexibility” in the creation of these groups.
When he headed the ministry, Gabriel Attal, in his words, focused on creating these “level groups.” This measure was intended to achieve the ambition of the ‘knowledge shock’, but was met with a certain reluctance among the teaching staff. Some fear a ‘sorting’ of students. But “who cares about the name, as long as there is a benchmark,” Gabriel Attal told AFP this week.