the Court of Auditors considers the results insufficient, despite high expenditure

Spending on education is high in France, but the results are not up to par. This is the finding made by the Court of Auditors in a note published on Tuesday 14 December.

In this note, the members of the Court consider that despite “national spending on education above the OECD average, the performance of the French school system tends to deteriorate, in particular for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds”. They consider that the educational reforms, the increase in resources and the results of the evaluations have not made it possible to improve the entire education system. 40% of students at the end of primary school do not have the basic knowledge of reading and mathematics, according to a study published in 2016 by the National Center for Studies of School Systems (Cnesco).

The Court of Auditors affirms that the education system is too centralized, too supervised, and that it must give more autonomy. To cope with performances qualified as“insufficient”, she advocates “four levers of action” to increase “efficiency” of the system. It is “facilitate the student’s journey”, of “renovate the framework of the teaching profession”, of “strengthen the autonomy margins of institutions” and of “better assess and evaluate performance”.

According to the Court’s note, the heads of establishments should therefore be more free in their choice of projects and be able to have more authority over the teachers, for example by taking care of their evaluation. The Court of Auditors recommends changing the organization of teachers’ working time, by taking into account the hours of preparation, correction, training or meeting in the compulsory schedules. Today, only the time in front of the class is fixed.

Finally, the financial magistrates consider it necessary to evaluate schools much more, based on school results, absenteeism, exclusions or the pursuit of studies.