| I thought going on strike was the basis of education in La Belle France? |
 DISCIPLINE and the three Rs were the order of the day for French children as they began the school year with a new back-to-basics curriculum and marks for their conduct. As with most attempts to revamp the centralised French school system, the Education Ministry's reforms have run into opposition from teachers' unions. They are planning a one-day strike later this month.
| “the Education Ministry's reforms have run into opposition from teachers' unions, which are planning a one-day strike later this month...” |
The reforms respond to declining standards, declining literacy and a breakdown in classroom discipline in a school system which, though still rigorous, has failed to adapt to the internet age. Like Britain's Tony Blair in 1997, the two leading candidates for next year's presidential elections have put education at the top of their manifestos. Segolene Royal, of the Socialist Party, and Nicolas Sarkozy, of the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement, called last weekend for a return to old-fashioned effort and respect for schoolteachers.
Among the novelties this year is the Common Base of Knowledge, a list of basic skills that all school-leavers must master to qualify for a job or higher education. Education Minister Gilles de Robien said the common base was the most significant reform since the Jules Ferry laws of the 1880s, which created free universal education. Bruno Racine, the chief of the advisory body that devised the reform, said that the goal was not to ensure that "every child has read Victor Hugo" but that school-leavers at least knew some of Hugo's characters as part of a basic knowledge of French culture.
| “... the unions condemn the conduct mark because it is a 'moralising concept' that leaves too much discretion to the teacher...” |
The Syndicat National des Enseignements de Second Degre, the main teachers' union, is opposed to the common base on the grounds that it will discourage excellence and that pupils who fail to meet it will be penalised when seeking work. Teachers are also under orders to abandon the "global" or whole-language approach when teaching reading. They must stick now only to the old-fashioned phonics method, which teaches the consonants and vowels and the sound of their combination.
Junior secondary pupils are being marked on their behaviour, as they were until the 1970s. The scores will contribute to the brevet, the exam at the end of middle school. While many teachers back the measure, the unions condemn the conduct mark because it is a "moralising concept" that leaves too much discretion to the teacher. |