“We are against it and we are still against it, we want it to be abandoned” said Guislaine David, joint secretary general and spokesperson for FSU-SNUipp, a union of school teachers and professors.
“Knowledge shock”, “type of students” reform measures?
On March 17, a decree on the establishment of organizations “based on the needs of students” was published in the Official Gazette. In fact, Gabriel Attal had announced that grade groups were established for 6th and 5th grade students in mathematics and French from the beginning of the school year in September.
For the Minister of Education Nicole Belloubet, these groups would make it possible to improve the results of students in French and mathematics, with smaller numbers for the groups of students who had the greatest difficulty.
The minister also indicated on France Inter in March that the groups would be mixed throughout the year for better learning.
Despite the fact that the minister opposes and clears it, specifying that “there is no type of students”, the teachers deny the hierarchical reform to the – students.
If the “shock of knowledge” leads to heated reactions from the teachers but also from the parents of the students, it is mainly because this reform would mean, according to them, a decline in the working conditions of teachers but also “types of students, classification between those who succeed to a greater or lesser extent, which we assign to stigma” as Guislaine David says.
The former Minister of National Education Gabriel Attal also implemented national assessments in primary schools: “In schools, we receive assessment booklets that are standard and normal for all schools,” explained the general secretary of FSU-SNUipp to us.
For the Ministry of Education, these assessments aim to provide teachers with “criteria of the performance of their students”, to issue “indicators that allow teachers to know the results of students and the educational process change”, as well as “measurement, at the level of education. national level, the performance of the education system”.
But for teaching unions, these assessments will do more harm than good: “National assessments are one-size-fits-all and not necessarily one-size-fits-all, for example for students with a learning disability, these are inevitably in trouble when passed the evaluations. They will then be in a low level group even though they should not be classified. It is up to the school to change, not them. Therefore, the assessments are not adjusted according to the special characteristics of the students, or to the class. However, we cannot all have the same students at the same time in all classes in France,” confirms Guislaine David. Therefore these evaluations do not take into account the assignments of each class and per student according to most of the teachers.
Due to the standardization of assessments, social diversity is at risk according to the unions. These are more likely to increase the pressure of socio-economic inequality on student success, which is already high. Every year, according to INSEE, from CP to CM2, the performance gap between the children of executives and workers widens by 10% more.
In addition to comparisons between students and classes, a “clash of knowledge” could lead to a hierarchy of schools. “We can see clearly, according to the results, that we will compare schools and classes with each other, and that is not what we want” said Guislaine David.
The impact on the teachers
For union representatives, the “knowledge shock” measures are also having a negative impact on the teachers’ working conditions.
“With each assessment result, we will ask teachers to change their practices. Especially through special training. So the teacher loses his pedagogical freedom, and many are tempted to resign because they no longer have this freedom.”
“We can assess our students, without all of them having the same assessment. We have to do different assessments depending on the class, what we study, etc. So these national assessments weigh on our practices.” insulting the speaker for FSU-SNUipp.
A practical way to fight the reform
“We are always fighting for our students because we want the best school for them and we know this is not the case at the moment. », confirms Guislaine David. “Our colleagues will participate in movements without going on strike. Teachers will not provide assessments or report results to the academic review.”
Juliette Durand
2024-09-09 22:14:47
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