French students still bad at mathematics

The contortions of the Ministry of National Education around the concept of “glass half full or half empty” will not change anything. France's performance in mathematics and science is just as bad as it was four years ago. The Timss 2023 international assessment (1), published on December 4, places France in a stable position compared to 2019, but still at the bottom of the ranking.

In mathematics, a discipline to which the French government has dedicated a plan to train primary school teachers, French CM1 and fourth grade students – the two levels assessed – arrive respectively in last and penultimate position among member countries of the European Union. They are below the OECD average. A position almost identical to Timss 2019.

In 42^e position in the general classification in CM1 (with a score of 484 points), France presents, at this level, results comparable to those of French-speaking Belgium or New Zealand, far behind England (552), Poland (546), Romania (542), Sweden (530) or Germany (524). In fourth grade, she ranks 24^e rank (with 479 points), close to Portugal, Israel and the United States, but well behind England (525), Ireland (522), Sweden (517), Austria (512) or Hungary (506).

A France mired in mediocrity? « Without being triumphant, we can be a little more optimisticdares the Rue de Grenelle. We obviously cannot be satisfied with these results, but France remains stable, while other countries in the European Union show a decline. This is perhaps one of the consequences of the mathematics plan, put in place since 2019. » It is true that, if the overall trend in the OECD is towards stability – with an almost identical average compared to 2019 -, the United States is suffering a spectacular decline (- 18 points in CM1 and – 27 points in fourth !). Portugal, which had progressed well in recent years in the international Pisa rankings, also recorded a decline (-25 points in fourth). But, at the same time, Romania is making dazzling progress (with a jump of 60 points in CM1 and 17 in fourth!), while England is progressing significantly in fourth (+10 points) and Poland in CM1 (+ 26 points).

« For thirty years, France has tended to decline in this ranking. The stability we observe today is perhaps the harbinger of a rebound », wants to believe Thierry Rocher, member of Depp, the evaluation service of National Education, and current president of the IEA (2), this international scientific association which, since the 1960s, has imagined numerous evaluations, among which Timss. « A maths, 97 % of Timss items are in our CM1 programs, and 93 % in those of fourth », he adds. There is therefore theoretically no bias which would harm France.

But, in the classroom, the reality is very different. « If decimals must be tackled from November of the year of CM1, in fact, only 10 % of classes do it, explains mathematician Charles Torossian, co-author, with Fields medalist Cédric Villani, of a report on mathematics teaching delivered in 2018. Et 25 % start after May… » Date on which the international evaluation takes place. Why this delay? School teachers tend to postpone this moment for fear of students' difficulties, mirroring their own shortcomings. In September 2023, the Scientific Council of National Education (CSEN) also sounded the alarm, by publishing a note pointing out a « huge deficit in understanding fractions » upon entering sixth grade. To the question « How many quarters of an hour are there in 3/4 of an hour ? »only half of the students leaving CM2 gave the correct answer.

Low proportion of high-achieving students

At the time of Timss 2023, the Ministry of National Education argues that the new programs for primary school – published in October, they will come into force in September 2025 – start the learning of fractions and decimals from CE1. Programs that are also more explicit, which integrate more manipulations and experiments, like the famous “Singapore method”. « The goal is to promote the acquisition of automatisms in mathematics », explains Rue de Grenelle.

Automatisms which are far from being acquired if we look at the proportion of students who do not master basic mathematical skills. In CM1, they are 15% in this case, compared to 7% in the EU. In fourth grade, this rate reaches 17% in this case, or 5 points more than in 2019. A progression that is all the more worrying as the proportion of high-performing students remains stable, at 3%. On this point, comparisons with other countries are dizzying: these “advanced level” students account for 9% in Romania, Hungary and Ireland, or even 15% in England. This future elite even reaches 46% in Singapore and 40% in Korea, in this ranking largely dominated by Asian countries.

Continuing training of teachers still lagging behind

« Since the mathematics plan, launched five years ago, 85 % of school teachers were trained, in small groups, at a rate of 30 hours every six years and 9 hours every year. In Singapore, it's 100 hours per year ! », observes Charles Torossian, who now heads the institute responsible for training national education executives (IH2EF). He describes, in this small Asian country, schools which are of « large training factories », where half of French schools are small structures. « In France, everything rests on the shoulders of teachers, he summarizes. In Germany, a country to which we can compare ourselves, this is not the case. » As for continuing training for middle and high school teachers, it is not compulsory. And almost non-existent. The fault lies in the 1950 decree, still in force, which sets a weekly working time (15 hours for graduates and 18 hours for Capes holders) and does not allow time that could be dedicated to training to be annualized. « In Spain or Portugal, annualized hours make it possible to train teachers within establishments », he adds.

For the mathematician, the difficulties of French students in mathematics are due less to the discipline itself than to the organization of the education system as a whole. « Heads of establishments must be trained in management. The margin for progress will come from the organization and the capacity of establishments to transform themselves into places of learning for teachers. », he believes.

France champion of girls-boys gaps

However, learning mathematics in France is indeed marked by a specificity. In CM1, the gap between girls and boys continues to widen to the advantage of the latter, as the Timss rankings progress: 6 points in 2015, 13 points in 2019 and 23 points in 2023. France is champion in the subject, on par with Australia, Italy, Portugal or Belgium. Conversely, the gap is not significant in Romania, Ireland and Bulgaria. In Finland, girls even have the advantage. In France, girls dropping out of school can be seen from the first grade. « Their results are deteriorating, while in the main nursery section they are equivalent to those of boys, we confirm to National Education. Perhaps because we start talking about mathematics from CP. » And stereotypes die hard. « The math plan will take this element into account in teacher training to close the gaps », promet-on.

« Girl-boy stereotypes related to math are still very present. Added to this is the fact that in France mathematics always reflects the image of a selective subject, explains Sébastien Planchenault, to the Association of Public Education Mathematics Teachers (Apmep). The recent announcement by the ministry to establish a math test in first grade in 2026 confirms this idea ».

(1) Conducted every four years, the Timss (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study) evaluation concerned, in 2023, 58 countries (including 22 EU members and 29 members of the OECD) for the grade 4 (the equivalent of CM1) and 43 countries (including 22 members of the EU and/or OECD) for the grade 8 (the equivalent of fourth grade). In France, 4 700 fourth grade schoolchildren and 4,500 fourth grade middle school students took the tests.

(2) International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.