"This is not a review of the minister's person but a review of public policies themselves, accompanied by 36 proposals", recalled during a press conference the centrist president of the Culture Committee. , Education and Communication, Laurent Lafon.

Under Jean-Michel Blanquer's five-year term - the longest of the Fifth Republic for a Minister of Education - several major reforms have been adopted.

This Senate commission was based for six months on the analysis of six key objectives and measures: the link between school and society, the lowering of the age of instruction to three years, the development of inclusive school , the priority given to primary education through policies limiting enrollment in the large section to CE1, the reform of secondary schools and the attractiveness of the teaching profession.

The minister "wanted to build a school of trust" with the law of the same name adopted in 2019, "but the observation is that the relationship between the French and the school remains degraded", noted the socialist Marie-Pierre Monier, senator Drôme SER.

According to her, "teachers continue to feel unloved by society" and "only 4% of school teachers consider that their profession is valued", she said, referring to "mistrust" to describe the relationship between Education staff and their minister.

Demonstration on January 13, 2022 in Bordeaux by teachers against the health protocol in schools Philippe LOPEZ AFP / Archives

The senators thus wish the automatic establishment of a functional protection for the teachers and “the same celerity in the follow-up of the complaints of the teachers as for other people charged with a mission of public service”.

They also recommend "an acceleration of career appointments, in order to improve the remuneration of teachers".

Reform of the ferry "in the middle of the ford"

The duplication of large section classes in CE1 in priority education, promise of candidate Macron, led "to first mixed results".

Duplication and capping at 24 students per class require 19,300 jobs.

"Over the entire five-year term, only a little more than 7,000 have been created", regret the elected officials.

The reform of the baccalaureate is according to them "in the middle of the ford".

"Student support is lacking today. 85% of head teachers and 65% of principals have not received any specific training to carry out their guidance mission" and "many students do not benefit from their 54 hours of “annual orientation”, point out the elected officials, stressing that “the reform of the high school risks increasing territorial inequalities” between establishments.

On the topical subject of the teaching of mathematics, "Jean-Michel Blanquer disputes the collapse of this subject but the figures are there. There were 90% of final year students who had a teaching in mathematics before its reform. We have fallen to 59%," said Senator LR of Pyrénées-Atlantiques Max Brisson.

The Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, launches a consultation committee on the teaching of maths at Yann COATSALIOU high school AFP / Archives

To remedy this, the senators recommend "introducing for all first and final year students a mathematics education that can take the form of applied mathematics, to fight against gender stereotypes associated with certain lessons and to promote the orientation of girls towards specialties and pursuit of scientific studies".

© 2022 AFP