“Tailor-made and hand-sewn. To praise the merits of the “new 6th”, Gabriel Attal, the Minister of Education, insists on the individual and in-depth work that will be carried out when entering college. One hour of support and weekly deepening in French or mathematics will be provided to all 6th graders.
They will be evaluated at the beginning of the year and divided into groups according to the results. Those who experience difficulties will benefit from support provided by college teachers or school teachers. As for the others, more at ease in French and maths, they will deepen their knowledge. To free up time, the Ministry of National Education decided in January to remove tech time in 6th.
The risk of territorial inequalities
The second axis retained concerns the “Homework done” system which will be generalized to all 6th graders and no longer to some of them who were experiencing difficulties. “There are 645,000 more students who will be supported from this start of the school year”, figures the new Minister of National Education who explains that the hour of compulsory support and the generalization of Homework done should allow students “to raise their level in French and mathematics. The new essments put in place in 4th grade will make it possible to measure the effectiveness of the system.
Teachers are already worried about the implementation of the hour of support and deepening. In its optimal version – namely groups of the same level in small numbers – it requires a significant commitment from teachers, especially at the first level. The government offers them the opportunity to get involved in this system in return for additional remuneration. It is the famous “pact” praised by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron.
“In my establishment, two teachers from the schools have signed, but none from the college, worries this teacher. So, to date, our numbers would be twenty students per group and still for half the year. Then there will be support cles for the whole cl. This type of operation will not help students. »
Another risk: the appearance of territorial inequalities, with in some colleges well-supported students, in small groups in accordance with the “tailor-made” desired by the Minister, on the other hand, support courses in the whole cl, ineffective .