how will the level groups work, the implementation of which is rejected by the teachers?

Several teaching unions are calling for a strike on Tuesday with, in their sights, the “shock of knowledge”, initiated by Gabriel Attal when he was still Minister of Education.

Second strike in less than a week: the teachers are not letting up. A new day of mobilization is planned for Tuesday February 6, encouraged by five unions (Snes-FSU, CGT Educ’action, SUD-Education, Sgen-CFDT and Unsa Education) who hope to build on the success of Thursday’s strike. According to Snes-FSU, 47% of middle and high school staff were on strike, the strongest mobilization since 2022, while the ministry announced a rate of 20% of strikers in both primary and secondary education. In five days, the teachers’ demands have not changed one iota: increase in salaries, defense of public schools, rejection of the reform of vocational high schools, or even refusal of the “clash of knowledge”.

Behind this allergy to the “clash of knowledge”, a plan brandished by Gabriel Attal when he was Minister of Education and whose aim is to raise the level of students, a measure is mainly criticized. The level groups, which will be put in place at the start of the next school year in sixth and fifth grade, worry the profession as much about the necessary means as about their real effectiveness.

Three groups, from weakest to strongest

Concretely, the system plans to distribute all sixth or fifth grade students at the college into three distinct groups, depending on their level, only in French and mathematics. The strong group and the average group will each be the equivalent of an entire class. A final group, for students with the most difficulty, will be smaller. Students “may change groups if they progress”, had also promised Gabriel Attal in December. At the discretion of the heads of establishment, there could be three or five groups in total, depending on needs. The ministry insists on this notion of case by case.

For other subjects, “the class group will remain, making it possible to combine the contributions of school diversity and differentiated pedagogies for the students”, it is recalled on the ministry website. Clearly, the classes will be mixed for around a third of the students’ lesson hours, in French and mathematics, but will not be for the remaining two thirds. This system must extend to fourth and third grades at the start of the 2025 school year. No regulatory text has yet been published, but the National Education unions, from teachers to school heads, are already denouncing a shaky implementation, which will be to the detriment of other disciplines.

A reform to the detriment of other lessons

The organization of the 2024 school year, and therefore of the level groups, is more than current. During this period, the colleges receive their overall hourly allocation (DHG), i.e. the envelope of hours allocated to the establishment by the rectorate, intended to ensure all compulsory lessons per week and per division the following year. Added to this is an additional allocation of three hours, making it possible to set up “working in small groups” and “optional lessons”, explains a decree of May 19, 2015. Problem, according to the unions: neither of these two envelopes has been increased, and the DHG has even been reduced by one hour.

“Dn more than 50% of the colleges which responded to us, the groups with reduced numbers in sciences will be eliminated in order to integrate [à l’emploi du temps] these level groups” in French and mathematics, deplores David Boudeau, president of the Association of Biology and Geology Teachers (APBG). In more than twenty years, physics-chemistry, SVT and technology “have already lost a large number of teaching hours, the small groups essential for experiments, in preparation staff, in laboratory hours, in material resources”recall five associations, including the APBG, in a press release (PDF link).

“This year, there has already been the elimination of the technology hour in sixth grade.”

David Boudeau, president of the APBG

at franceinfo

In addition, several unions fear that this reform will be imposed to the detriment of other measures. “VSSome school leaders go so far as to question LCA groups [langues et cultures de l’Antiquité] in whole or in part (especially Greek), the choirs disappear… No system or teaching is safe: certain managements plan to sacrifice balance classes, German LV2 teaching to recover resources financing the level groups” , denounces, in a press release, the Snes-FSU.

In an “alert letter”, delivered two weeks ago to the new minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the SNPDEN-Unsa, the first union of school heads, insist on “the need to guarantee” the financing of “optional lessons”. “They are, for the Public School, of which you are the first representative, a guarantee of being able to maintain a sufficient training offer compared to certain private establishments”, writes SNPDEN-Unsa.

“Alignments will not be possible”

To allow, as promised by the government, changes during the year, the level groups must be organized in the same time slots, according to the unions. An organization that “would also cause insurmountable difficulties in constructing correct timetables for students”worries Snes-FSU. “Alignments will not be possible in smaller establishments, due to lack of a sufficient number of teachers to implement them”affirms for its part the SNPDEN-Unsa.

A shortage of teachers also highlighted by David Boudeau. “There is a real human resources problem. If we have four groups, but only three teachers, what do we do? We don’t have the gift of ubiquity,” quips the president of the APBG. According to the ministry’s calculations, the creation of level groups will require 1,150 additional French teachers and as many mathematics teachers. But these 2,300 dedicated positions will not be enough, believe several unions. “There will be groups without teachers at the start of the school year”, anticipates Snes-FSU. Especially since the profession is undergoing an intense recruitment crisis, including in French and mathematics. For this last subject for example, 28% of positions were not filled in the secondary level competitions in 2023.

Basically, the staff also refuse to sort the students according to their level. They fear stigmatization of the most struggling middle school students and emphasize that this measure is not effective in raising standards. An observation supported by education researchers. Some studies agree that such groups especially help the most resourceful students to improve, which accentuates pre-existing inequalities. Others are more complimentary, but under very specific conditions, such as “need groups”. For example, for mathematics, part of the class would work on geometry, while another would do calculations. A form of grouping that the famous “clash of knowledge” does not offer.