The Education Minister
The French
middle school system hasn't been reformed since 1975, so there is a real need
for change. There have been several demonstrations against this reform which came
into effect at the beginning of the 2016 school year. Important points of this
reform concern the “EPI” and the future of language learning.
The “EPI”
is the pooling of two school subjects with the aim of creating an interesting
pedagogical activity. The professors have already begun training for
these new projects.
Mr. Samovar,
a teacher, comments: “The teachers seemed impressed
by the examples of “EPI” which were presented to them. We have for example the
mixture of History and French with the argumentative text, and Arts with History
with the study of slavery in Venice”.
If the idea
meets approval, how it is to be applied, less so. The teachers are sceptical
about the organization of the projects and the focus on personalized
accompaniment of the pupils. A teacher reported that there isn't any time for preparation;
it must be done in their spare time. These projects require several professors
working together, so preparation will become an extra constraint for teachers.
Concerning
language teaching, the main change is with the two-language classes (children learning two languages). Now, with the reform, everyone can take a second language in
the first year of middle school. But the reform of middle school implies
that the two-language classes can be maintained only for students who studied a
language other than English in primary school. According to the data given by
"reformeducollege.fr", only 7% of students would be concerned. So
few students would in fact give up the two-language class. According to the same
website, however, in the Caen catchment area most of the two-language classes
would disappear.
In addition, the reform would also bring to an end the European sections (in which pupils learn some subjects in a foreign
language) because it is considered too elitist by the national education
minister, Najat-Vallaud Belkacem.
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