If Emmanuel Macron decreed that education was “the mother of battles”, the programs of the other parties competing for the early legislative elections of June 30 and July 7 are not left out on the educational side. Secularism and authority are at the center of the measures for schools in the presidential camp’s program. Shock of knowledge, in-depth reform of the system, fight against harassment: the government has made education one of its priorities. On June 20, during the presentation of the Ensemble pour la République program, Gabriel Attal returned to his record as Minister of Education. To defend the purchasing power of the French, the head of government is considering “group purchases” of school supplies, to reduce the price by up to 15%. To restore authority at school, the presidential camp would like to experiment with the opening of colleges from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. classified as REP and the use of boarding schools for young people who have failed.
A unanimous observation: the level of students is falling
Among the measures already on track: the ‘shock of knowledge’ reform desired by Gabriel Attal, planned for the start of the 2024 school year. Level groups must be set up in French and mathematics from the start of 6th grade to strengthen the fundamental knowledge and raise the level. Because the observation is there: the level of the students is not good. In the latest Pisa (Program for International Student Assessment) study on OECD countries, published on December 5, 2023, we note a significant and unprecedented drop since 2000 in the results of French students in mathematics and understanding of writes it. On a global scale, France falls to 26th place, far behind Estonia and Poland. If the drop in the level of students is unanimous within the presidential camp, the New Popular Front (NFP) and the National Rally (RN), the means to try to raise the level differ.
Repealing the “clash of knowledge”
Thus, in the first 15 days, in the event of victory in the early legislative elections, the New Popular Front wants to restore public schools to their objective of emancipation, by repealing the ‘clash of knowledge’. Because this reform is highly contested on the ground. Particularly on the side of teachers and parents opposed to the creation of level groups, denouncing a “social sorting” of students.
For its part, the National Rally is much more vocal on security, immigration and purchasing power than on the question of education. For Jordan Bardella’s party, the ‘shock of knowledge’ reform must also be “repealed”. But the level groups will have to be in the hands of the establishments, the important thing for the RN being to put the teaching of French, mathematics and history back at the heart of the programs. If the RN wanted to increase teachers’ salaries during the 2022 presidential campaign, now everything will depend on the financial audit that Jordan Bardella intends to carry out if he becomes Prime Minister.
The obligatory uniform for the RN as for the presidential majority
To restore authority, the RN plans to send disruptive students to specialized centers. After two exclusions from their establishment, a disciplinary council could assign them there. These disruptive students would complete their entire education until they turned 16 without the possibility of returning to a traditional establishment. The RN also wants to introduce compulsory uniforms at primary and secondary schools, but it recognizes that it will take time to implement it. The introduction of compulsory uniforms at school is an idea shared by the presidential camp which has launched an experiment for generalization in 2026. But this measure arouses little enthusiasm on the part of those mainly concerned. Finally regarding college,
Jordan Bardella offers a 6th grade entrance exam from CM2. He also wants to put an end to the single secondary school and direct students in difficulty towards professional careers earlier and more quickly.
The ‘shock of knowledge’ reform implemented by Gabriel Attal plans to standardize the knowledge taught to all primary school children with state-certified textbooks and programs structured around annual objectives. Which could undermine the educational freedom of teachers according to its opponents. The program of the New Popular Front plans to preserve this educational freedom and to “take the first steps” towards completely free school meals, whether school canteen, supplies, transport and extracurricular activities in order to make school truly free.
Suppression of Parcoursup for the New Popular Front
After the first 15 days, if it wins the early legislative elections, the New Popular Front aims to launch two major laws within 100 days to begin the reconstruction of two essential public services in the areas of health and education. . The objective of the left-wing coalition is to reduce class sizes “to do better than the European average of 19 students per class”. The NFP also wants to modulate the allocations of educational establishments – including private ones – according to their objectives and respect for social diversity. Finally, as for the university, the NFP wants to democratize the process by abolishing Parcoursup and the selection at the entrance to the public university while introducing the 1 euro meal in the Crous. While this measure allowed students to survive during the Covid period, the government then reserved access only to scholarship holders. Finally, in the longer term, the NFP program aims to repeal universal national service, a system halfway between military service and civic service offered to young people aged 15 to 17, introduced in 2019.
Faced with the measures proposed by the National Rally, national education executives, heads of establishments, educational inspectors, academy inspectors and generals launched a petition denouncing the possible arrival of the extreme right in power. They assure that they would “refuse to obey” directives in opposition to republican values. An unprecedented position taken by civil servants who are supposed to apply the measures of their hierarchy. These signatories are based on the status of the civil service. The obligation of hierarchical obedience may cease if the order given risks seriously compromising the public interest. This petition has already collected nearly 1000 signatures.
