In recent months, the drop in the number of high school students studying maths since the high school reform has been controversial.
A report recommends putting this material back in the common core from the first class.
A desire shared by Emmanuel Macron.
But for teachers, the account is not there, and the reform should be completely reviewed to give more space to math.
From the start of the implementation of the high school reform in 2019, this is the point that has been the most criticized: the disappearance of math in the common core in 1st and final.
Because the discipline is only taught in the form of a specialty.
1st and final year students who have not chosen it are therefore only entitled to 2 hours of scientific teaching*.
This is not without posing a problem, recalls Sébastien Planchenault, president of the Association of Mathematics Teachers in Public Education: “Secondary students who know that they will not take the maths specialty in 1st not cling to follow.
They do not acquire the necessary culture in this area for any citizen”.
On the other hand, according to him, the fact that the maths specialty is very demanding reinforces stereotypes: “Girls and students from underprivileged backgrounds tell themselves that maths is not for them”.
And the number of students who drop out of the maths specialty in terminale has increased:
according
to a note from the National Education published on December 8, at the start of the 2021 school year, 37% of terminale students chose this specialty, compared to 41% in 2020. And those who do not take it fear being penalized when they express their wishes for higher education on Parcoursup: "Before, in the SES sector, there was math, which for example allowed students to consider entering a business school,” explains Sébastien Planchenault.
"A pebble in candidate Macron's shoe"
"Maths have become a pebble in candidate Macron's shoe and a political subject," said Sophie Vénétitay, secretary general of Snes-FSU.
Faced with criticism, Jean-Michel Blanquer had recognized at the beginning of February that it would “probably” be necessary to add mathematics to the common core of first and final year.
And during the presentation of his electoral program last Thursday, Emmanuel Macron drove home the point by declaring: "I hope that we will continue to consolidate the fundamentals by strengthening mathematics, including by putting them back in the base for the baccalaureate".
The Minister of Education has also mandated a committee of experts to make proposals to him on the subject.
The latter submitted his report on Monday and recommends submitting, at the start of the next school year,
mathematics in the common core from the 1st class, at the rate of 1h30 to 2 hours more per week for all pupils.
The subject would be included in science education, which would thus go from 2 hours to 3.5 hours or 4 hours per week in 1st.
An education which, according to the report, should "enable all students to master at the end of 1st grade both basic mathematical techniques and the tools essential to the understanding and elementary modeling of quantitative phenomena, whether they come from statistics, probabilities or analysis”.
The sine qua non condition for this measure to apply from the start of the 2022 school year would of course be that Emmanuel Macron be re-elected.
The Ministry of Education has already expressed its enthusiasm in a press release published on Monday: "This reinforced scientific and mathematical education would guarantee to all students in the general route the mastery of the fundamental mathematical notions that they will need. , regardless of the training path they choose later.
»
“It will be difficult to set up”
Provided, too, that there are enough math teachers to provide the lessons.
A hypothesis in which Sébastien Planchenault believes.
“For the next school year, this would represent 550 full-time equivalents.
The solution to achieve this is to increase the number of overtime hours worked by maths teachers,” he suggests.
Sophie Vénétitay is less optimistic: “It will be complicated to set up.
Certainly, we can impose 2 additional hours per teacher and per week, but some already do a lot, others are part-time... And there is already a lack of math teachers at present, for lack of sufficient pools.
In addition, it is difficult to find contract workers.
“The risk would be, according to her, that some students benefit from this reinforcement in maths while others are deprived of it, for lack of human resources.
Another question that arises: would it be possible to create a math program for this teaching so shortly before the start of the school year?
"Yes, because the ministry could rely on the old math programs of the L and ES sectors," says Sébastien Planchenault.
“But they still have to be formalized early enough to allow teachers to prepare their lessons calmly,” tempers Sophie Vénétitay.
"It's not a measuring spoon that it would take"
Questions also arise about the impact of these math courses for high school students.
Will they allow them to be less restrained in their choice of higher education?
“I don't think so, because 1h30 or 2 hours a week is insufficient to open up the field of possibilities”, believes Sophie Vénétitay.
Same story with Sébastien Planchenault: “In the old ES sector, students had 3 hours of maths in 1st and 4 in terminal.
There, we are talking about 1h30 to 2 hours in 1st gear.
This may be enough for those who want to become a school teacher or a psycho.
But not for those who want to go to courses requiring them to have a real scientific background... Unless they can opt for the complementary maths option in terminale”, he suggests.
The report also proposes to facilitate this access.
According to some teachers, it is rather the reform of the high school in its entirety that should be retouched.
"We must reinstate a real teaching of maths for all, also rework the program of this discipline in second so that it disgusts the students less", recommends Sophie Vénétitay.
“It's not a scoop that is needed.
But, for example, consider creating a second math specialty oriented towards economics and the humanities, which would meet the demand of students who would have prepared an L or SES baccalaureate in the old system, ”says Sébastien Planchenault.
It will be up to the next Minister of Education to decide!
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Society
Reform of the baccalaureate: Should we be worried about the drop in the number of students specializing in maths in the final year?
* Scientific education addresses the history of matter, the Sun, the Earth, sound and music in the 1st year, and in the final year Science and the climate, the future of energies and the History of life.
Society
Education
High school
Mathematics
Reform of the BAC
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