Gabriel Attal: his clever plan to get ahead of the next Pisa ranking

The establishment of this major consultation was announced by Gabriel Attal during World Teachers’ Day, October 5, from the front of the François-Mitterrand Library. In a long speech lasting almost an hour, the Minister of National Education detailed at length his action plan aimed at helping teachers, these “knowledge fighters”, to win “the battle of level”. “This is the emergency of our school,” he insisted before listing some statistics: in a quarter of a century, French students have lost the equivalent of a year in terms of level. In other words, a 4th grade student, in 2018, has the level of a 5th grade student in 1995. The results in French and mathematics, fundamental subjects, are the most alarming. As proof, upon entering 6th grade, 1 in 3 students cannot read correctly, and only half of them find the correct answer to the question “How many quarter hours are there in ¾ time?”

The observation is now well known and we can no longer count the number of inspection reports or from the Scientific Council of National Education (CSEN), parliamentary work and internal statistics. This is why Gabriel Attal says he wants to accelerate by launching this mission intended to “develop a strategy”. It is coordinated by Edouard Geffray, general director of school education, Caroline Pascal, dean of the general inspection of education, sport and research, Stanislas Dehaene, president of the CSEN, and Gilles Halbout, rector of the Orléans-Tours academy.

Three working groups, dedicated to school, middle school and high school, are currently responsible for working on programs, organization and educational practices and general culture… Vast roadmap, spread over only eight weeks since the ministry promised announcements in early December. “During our first presentation meeting, it was precisely the date of December 5 that was displayed,” reveals a participant, supporting photo. Or the same day when the results of the Pisa 2022 study, largely devoted to mathematics, will be made public. Every three years, this vast survey carried out by the OECD among 15-year-old students in 85 countries represents a humiliation for France. In addition to mixed results, it does not fail to remind us of the unequal nature of our system.

There is no question of waiting for the sentence to fall to react. This is the method of Gabriel Attal, who intends to stand out through his desire to move forward quickly and take on issues that concern public opinion. Which seems to be successful for him since in the latest Ifop/Fiducial barometer for Paris Match/Sud Radio on the French’s favorite political figures, the host from rue de Grenelle maintains his place as “prime minister”, ranking second step of the podium, just after Edouard Philippe and in front of Bruno Le Maire. “If he is so popular, it is because he does not hesitate to directly address the subjects that worry parents, such as the question of harassment or school level. He gives the feeling of speaking the truth and not hiding the problems”, confirms Frédéric Dabi. And the general director Opinion of the Ifop group clarified: “It does not just state observations since it takes measures which have an impact on the daily lives of students and families. I am thinking in particular of the delay in specialty tests of the baccalaureate, which will no longer take place in March but in June, a way of showing that it is acting to save the third trimester.”

Faithful to his desire to take the lead, Gabriel Attal granted a interview with Le Parisien on November 14 to comment on the scores of the level tests taken at the start of the year by the students. “The results in 4th grade are worrying,” he affirmed, before revealing courses of action such as the establishment of level groups in French and mathematics or an increase in the number of hours devoted to these subjects for middle school students. those most in difficulty… So many points supposed to be debated within the framework of the famous Knowledge Requirements mission.

“The extremely constrained timetable can give the impression that decisions have already been made, just like this interview in which the minister reveals elements of his plan,” laments Claire Piolti-Lamorthe, president of the Association of Mathematics Teachers of the public education. A plan which, it seems, will mainly concern middle school, while his two predecessors – especially Jean-Michel Blanquer – had concentrated most of the reforms on primary school and high school. The question of level groups which, for opponents of this measure, would risk putting an end to the principle of a single college, is a subject which divides the teaching community. Some, like Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSU, fear a forceful move. “The minister is more in a perspective of political communication than of real educational effectiveness”, estimates the one for whom everything seems “unfortunately decided in advance”.

In his speech of October 5 delivered at the BNF, Gabriel Attal, after announcing the establishment of the mission – and taking care to recall the importance of social dialogue “prior to any action” –, had certainly rolled out avenues of very detailed action: on programs and their organization by cycles which can, he said, “harm the progression of learning”; on textbooks, praising in passing the “spectacular results” of a unique textbook experiment carried out in Mayotte; on the establishment of “success courses” during the holidays which would condition the passage to sixth form for certain students; or finally on the importance of facilitating access to general culture which “is inherited or learned” and appears to be “one of the most glaring expressions of the inequalities in level from which our school suffers”.

Another Ifop-Fiducial survey for Sud Radio, unveiled on November 17 and devoted to “the French view of the education situation and the Minister of National Education”, comes at the right time for Gabriel Attal’s team: the recently put forward options are considered generally effective, in particular the creation of level classes with fewer students (which won 81% of the votes) and the establishment of additional hours of lessons in mathematics and French for students in difficulty (78%). Still as part of its “knowledge requirement” operation, the ministry also sent a questionnaire to all 860,000 teachers on the priority actions to be implemented. “The problem is that this questionnaire, anonymous and accessible to everyone via a simple link, can be completed as many times as you want and by anyone. Which still raises questions about its reliability,” regrets Sophie Vénétitay, who also denounces biased responses. “In the solutions to be put in place to help us advance our students, the notion of reducing class numbers is not addressed, but this is a crucial point!” she points out, in unison with many other representatives of the profession.