"We Keep Saying That Primary School is the Priority, so Let’s Act Accordingly !"

Catherine Moisan, former Director of the Evaluation, Forecasting and Performance Department (DEPP) of the French Ministry of National Education, answers our questions.

Not only is this Macron’s first start of the school year, but he emphasized strongly on education throughout his presidential campaign. Do you feel like the decisions he has made so far are going in the right direction?

Decreasing the number of pupils per class in Priority Education Zones goes, naturally, in the right direction. Nevertheless, giving up the five mornings of classes per week reform is in contradiction with what was announced as the priority: ensuring every single pupil succeeds. Have we forgotten about Hubert Montager’s undeniable scientific findings or the advice of the Medical Academy ? Is the permanent reference to scientific verdicts and research only a ploy that disappears when the measures at stake are inconsistent with these facts ?

Beyond this, I am also confused about the overall educational project. Opposing technology and humanity seems completely old-fashioned to me. Why are archaisms so resistant when it comes to education, and where is the renewal we are all waiting for? I share the President’s view on the criticism of "egalitarianism" if by that he means the uniformity hampering social justice. However, in a country where social determinism outweighs academic success more than anywhere else, each decision needs to be measured according to whether it increases or decreases this very determinism.

We know the importance of professional teaching trainings issues, for both teachers and members of the French Ministry of National Education. Do you think that these levers could be activated in a fairly ambitious way in the coming months?

Professional training schemes, recruitment, mobility, teachers’ inspections and evaluations: all these need to be redesigned. It is of course necessary to develop research on learning and didactic processes, and later adapt the trainings we provide to these results. However, in order to achieve this, we need to radically change our methods. Rather than using a "top down" approach, where we dictate orders to people on the field, we should establish a relationship of trust and start considering members of the teaching staff as professionals. Let’s implement big projects such as "e-FRAN" (digital training, research and animation centers), which allow researchers, executives and teachers to work together and produce resources. Let’s not avoid the questions that matter on initial training and recruitment. Do we need a competitive exam besides a Master’s Program ? Is the training delivered in schools for teaching staff (ESPE) really professional and based on a system of rotation ? If schools are in charge of recruiting teachers, how does it work in the many schools that have no autonomy ? How can we reduce, regardless of the recruitment format, the striking territorial inequalities regarding the recruitment and stability of the teaching staff ?

This last point is essential, as it determines the efficiency of decreasing the number of pupils per class in Priority Education Classes in the Paris area in its suburbs, where there are many debuting teachers and employees.

You have passed the "Agrégation" examination in maths, a very prestigious and competitive exam in France. Today we know that both students and most of the teaching staff are struggling with this subject. What do you think we should do to improve our level in maths?

International surveys do not give us an insight on the level of excellence of a small group of people, but rather on how people generally master basic math tools. The 2012 PISA survey (OECD) showed that France was the country in which social determinism impacted most the level of mathematics of 15 year-olds. The 2015 TIMMS survey (IEA) showed that French pupils in their penultimate year of primary school have the lowest level in math in Europe. We keep saying that primary school is the priority, so let’s act accordingly ! Rather than dwelling on useless fights about the syllabus or the global method, let’s implement an important project to do with math at school. We need to reconcile future teachers who often previously failed in math with this subject. Which is why we also need to include the teaching training places in this big project. Let’s learn from our past mistakes and invent a sustainable school of the future!