The 28-year-old engineer, who is widely followed on TikTok, suggests concentrating “main subjects” in the morning in order to devote the afternoons to “fun” and “non-obligatory” activities.
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More than 300,000 signatures collected in one month. The petition from TikToker Sensei des mots, which calls in particular to concentrate classes for middle and high school students between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., has been very successful and is relaunching the debate on school schedules.
Is this feasible? Is this practiced elsewhere? Has the Minister of Education reacted? Students from the Sacré-Coeur colleges in Marseille and Jules Ferry in Sainte-Geneviève-des-bois in Essonne question “The true or false junior”.
An organization already tested and not approved
“Is this choice likely to have a positive or negative impact on the level of students?” Timéo wonders.
If we base ourselves solely on the experience carried out and studied in France, the conclusion is that this risks not having a notable impact on student results. Between 2010 and 2012, nearly 200 establishments, mainly colleges, participated in the “Class in the morning, sport in the afternoon” system. Around 15,000 students have tested this organization of school time. Conclusion: in terms of concentration, attention and memorization, there was no significant difference between students who had classes only in the morning and those who had classes until late afternoon. It didn’t improve grades either. On the other hand, the students’ attitude benefited: they were more sociable, more respectful of the rules and more independent.
Germany already practices this type of system
“Are there countries that already practice this system?” asks Enzo.
Yes, this system is particularly practiced in Germany, as Sébastien Baer, franceinfo correspondent in Berlin, explains: “Almost everywhere in Germany classes start at 8 a.m., last 45 minutes, and end at 1 p.m. The students then go home for lunch, there is no canteen. Then they have the afternoon free for sports or cultural activities. But German middle and high school students have shorter summer vacations than French students: six weeks instead of eight. Furthermore, in Germany, the curriculum and school rhythms are regional responsibilities, the organization therefore varies greatly from one territory to another.
We can also cite the United States where students rarely finish after 3 p.m. Which sometimes forces them to start very early. For example, in Louisiana, middle school students are in class from 7:30 a.m.
Classes, canteen, transport to be reorganized and teachers to be recruited
“Is it possible to achieve this change for all middle and high school students in France?” wonders Maëllys.
Franceinfo contacted several researchers in education science and here are their remarks. First constraint: the school calendar. Middle school students have 28 hours of classes per week. If we wanted to concentrate them in the morning, we would need six mornings of classes, from Monday to Saturday. Or we would have to organize the year differently: by lightening the program or reducing vacations. Second constraint: the means. If afternoon classes were eliminated, each teacher would have to teach four hours every day, so more teachers would have to be recruited. But also make more classrooms available, provide more school buses in the morning, and more places in the canteen. Third constraint: organize the extracurricular offer. We would need to create reception areas for afternoon activities and hire staff to supervise them. This would risk creating inequalities between establishments and therefore, ultimately, between students.
The threshold of 100,000 signatures
“How many signatures do we need for this petition to be taken seriously?” It depends Lola what you mean by “take it seriously”.
Legally, there is no signature threshold that would force the government to implement the measure defended in a petition. But there are other ways to give visibility to a citizen request. Any adult can submit a petition on the platform of the National Assembly or the Senate. For it to be put online and for parliamentarians to study it, at least 100,000 signatures must be collected.
You can also, from the age of 16, submit a petition on the economic, social and environmental council (CESE) platform. If it collects more than 150,000 signatures, the EESC must then issue an opinion on the subject within six months. It is a sort of report transmitted to the Prime Minister who is then free to do with it what he wants.
And then there are also petitions, which, without the help of institutions, provoke a debate in society. This was the case, for example, of the Case of the Century to call on the French State to act more against global warming. It had exceeded two million signatures.
The Minister of Education invited Sensei words… Before changing her mind
“Is it true that the Minister of Education contacted the tiktoker Sensei of words?”
Yes, it’s true. But she has distanced herself in recent hours. Tuesday, in a video posted on TikTok, Anne Gennetet announced that her teams had invited Sensei des mots to come to the Ministry of National Education to talk about the petition. And then, Thursday morning, the minister published a new message, this time written, to say that ultimately she would not receive the TikToker. “I discovered, says Anne Genetet, comments that go against my values and the principles of the Republic.” Anne Genetet does not specify the content of these remarks.
However, the minister proposed to all those who signed the petition to “speak”.