"Children cannot be satisfied with school from a distance." Following the coronavirus crisis, some French students have still not found their way back to school, or only attend a few hours of lessons per week. This is a problematic situation for Philippe Meirieu, a pedagogical researcher specializing in education, who questions the effectiveness of distance education. "The pupils need each other, they need mutual aid, cooperation, and to have their teacher present with them in the classroom," he said on Monday at Europe 1 microphone.
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Complementary but not interchangeable learning
According to him, the development of distance education can be complementary to classroom learning, but should not replace it. "If we have to develop distance education at the start of the next school year to help everyone more individually, it must be in addition to compulsory face-to-face teaching ... We saw this during confinement: the students drop out when there is no longer a collective, "he said.
To those who point out the success of students enrolled at Cned, whose entire education can take place far from classrooms and recess lessons, he retorts: "These are students who are mobilized, motivated, and who have a personal interaction with each teacher who follows them ... We cannot generalize this to all French students. "
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"We are going to reopen the cinemas ... Why not the amphis?"
A reasoning that he also applies to universities, closed since March and which will remain so at least until September. Some faculties are currently questioning whether or not to maintain amphitheater classes at the start of the new school year. "We are going to reopen the cinemas ... Why not the amphis?", Points out Philippe Meirieu.
He feared that distance education would widen the inequalities already visible at university. "Students who can follow a distance education, in autonomy, acquired, because of their cultural, family and social environment, capacities of work, initiative, and personal research which are not acquired by all the pupils ... ", he emphasizes. And concludes: "With distance learning, some students will be left by the wayside."