An overwhelming majority of parents and teachers believe that the level of students is “deteriorating”

As millions of students return to school on Monday, September 2, a survey reveals that their parents and teachers believe that the level in classrooms has declined over the past decade.

Teachers and parents agree. A survey conducted in July by OpinionWay for the Hexagone observatory among just under 2,000 people and unveiled on the occasion of the start of the school year on Monday, September 2, reveals that a majority of parents and teachers believe that the level in classes has “deteriorated” over the past “ten years or so.”

In detail, 85% of teachers say that the level is falling (47% “a little” and 38% “a lot”), more than parents (70%, of whom 32% believe that the level has deteriorated “a lot”).

Only 5% of teachers believe that the level has improved, compared to 14% of parents.

Screens, discipline, lack of resources…

On the teachers’ side, the drop in standards is mainly attributed to the overexposure of students to screens (96% of teachers see this as a cause explaining the drop in standards), the lack of severity of parents (91%) and the lack of motivation of students (91%).

The lack of resources in schools (79%) and the excessive number of pupils per class (85%) are also mentioned by teachers and parents (77% and 80%).

They point out as the main causes of the drop in standards the lack of discipline in class (86%), children’s exposure to screens (84%) and the lack of severity of parents (84%).

The latest Pisa survey, published in December 2023, showed that the level of French students is declining in reading, science and mathematics. According to this OECD assessment, which aims to test the skills of 15-year-old students, the level of French students has lost 6 points in science, 19 points in reading comprehension (a decline in reading that began in 2012 with a total of 32 points lost in ten years) and 21 points in mathematics. For this last discipline, the drop is “unprecedented”, pointed out the authors of the report.

Although the French had obtained 474 points in mathematics – the OECD average (472 points) – the decline was general and concerned both struggling students (29%) and high-achieving students. The latter only represented 7.4% of students, a proportion lower than the OECD average (8.7%).