A compulsory hour of support or deepening in French or mathematics for all 6th graders, provided by college teachers but also – this will be a first – teachers from surrounding schools. This is what will be announced this Thursday in a circular on a set of measures concerning CM1, CM2 and 6th, with the aim of improving the general level of students deemed too low.
These lessons will take place from the start of the school year on the premises of the college and will be part of the timetable of all 6th graders. They will focus, according to the ministry circular, on certain fundamental skills such as “fluency (fluent oral reading), mastery of spelling, writing, syntax, vocabulary, numeration, fractions, calculation, magnitudes, measurements, spaces and geometry”. They should be offered “à la carte” according to the skills of each student and held in small groups, with students from several classes, the size and composition of which will vary according to the establishment and the progress of each student.
A reassessment at the end of each quarter
“We want to stick to everyone’s needs,” says one rue de Grenelle. For example, a child who has difficulty reading when entering 6th grade can first be directed to a reading course. At the end of three months, he will have made progress and he will then be able to take a course on fractions the following term. Finally, in March, depending on his level, he can join a geometry class. »
Measures that are already raising many questions and a certain mistrust on the part of the teachers concerned. “It will undoubtedly be effective for students who have slight difficulties, but it will not change the world, fears Françoise (name has been changed), director of an elementary school and teacher in CM2 in the Côtes d’Armor. With some, we row seriously and it’s not an extra hour in the program that will change, ”says this woman who also wonders about the interest for school teachers to go every week to teach in college. “The journeys are never paid for by the National Education and some will have to travel miles to reach the college in the sector”, she annoys.
“School teachers will have to take their personal time to consult with the teacher of the 6th grade class”, abounds Guislaine David, secretary general of Snuipp-FSU, majority in the first degree. The trade unionist is surprised by the sudden announcement of a measure that she considers “like a bandage on a wooden leg”: “The difficulties of the students should be resolved before they enter 6th grade”, she insists. “Setting up these interclass courses will be a real headache,” adds Jean-Rémi Girard, from Snalc, another teachers’ union.
This measure is inspired by the “6th springboard” system, tested since September in several colleges of the Amiens academy, where school teachers help students in difficulty entering college. Ironically, “over there, things are starting to grumble seriously because no one has been paid overtime since the start of the school year. Some want to give up next year, ”slips Guislaine David.