Returning to his own reform, the Minister ofEnational education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, suggestsadd mathematics to the common core of first and final year. Since the start of the 2019 school year, two major changes occurred in high school. First, the introduction of continuous assessment: that is to say that 40% of the marks obtained during the school year count for the general baccalaureate. Another development is the disappearance of the three major streams: S, ES and L in first class. The general way then includes several subjects: French, history-geography, modern languages, PE, or even civic or scientific education. So no mathematics as such in the common core.
>>The Mathematical Society of France calls “to get around the table” to compensate for “the increased decline in girls” choosing this discipline
Mathematics, we find a little bit in the two hours of science teaching, with a bit of physics, a bit of chemistry, a bit of SVT, but it’s quite general. To have a real maths course, high school students must choose it in their specialty courses, three in first and two in final year: mathematics is part of it, in the same way as digital and computer science, the languages and cultures of Antiquity, or even literature and philosophy. Which means that a first or final year student in a general high school can no longer do math.
Mathematicians and teachers warn of the drop in the number of young people taking math lessons. The reform of the baccalaureate is widely decried by the teaching staff, but also by Cédric Villani, the mathematician and deputy, for a time, of the majority, who has noted a drop in the level of students in maths for 30 years.
In volume, the number of hours allocated to mathematics has dropped considerably. SAccording to the Ministry of National Education, in 2018 there were just over 180,000 hours of math lessons in first and last year, compared to 150,000 in 2020, i.e. a fall of 18%. It is the second material to have declined the most, after technology. Four out of ten 12th graders don’t do math at all during their senior year of high school. Today, students who choose maths want to move towards a post-baccalaureate scientific course, while the old S sector could open much wider doors.
However, at the start of the school year in September 2021, 37.5% of final year students chose mathematics as their specialty education. It is a little less than the previous year, but mathematics remains ahead of economics and social sciences or even physics and chemistry. VSHowever, behind this first place of mathematics hide disparities. For example, girls fewer and fewer choose this material: they rrepresent only 40% of pupils. Lhe ministry also notes social discrimination in the choice of mathematics, with an over-representation of pupils from very privileged social backgrounds.
If Jean-Michel Blanquer seems to have heard the criticisms and wishes to strengthen the presence of mathematics in the common core, as he mentioned in an interview on Sunday February 6 on CNews, his team remains silent on the realization of this announcement. We can consider discussions on this subject with trade unions or associations of math teachers, but for the moment, they have not been requested. Could program changes take place as soon as the next school year begins? It seems complicated, the distribution of teaching hours in schools for example is already done, and the means already given. Representatives of teachers fear above all an announcement effect without any real concrete change.