La Rentrée: Pessimism and controversy marks the start of the school year

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A new beginning

More significant perhaps than 1 January, La Rentrée is for the French a new beginning.  The national shut-down that is August has passed, and the return of 10 million children to schools and colleges coincides with life re-starting in the cities.  Many businesses such as restaurants re-open, a long list of new films and shows are lined-up for release, and this year there are 676 new books about to be published as part of what the French call la rentrée littéraire.

Pessimistic outlook

Like New Year, La Rentrée is a time of reflection, and this year the mood is pessimistic, amidst looming recession, rising fuel and energy prices and the slow rate of economic change in France.  A recent IFOP survey for the newspaper Ouest France backed up this assertion, with only 33% of the 1006 people surveyed responding that they were optimistic about the future for themselves and their children.  The lowest rate in 13 years.

4 day week for schools 

La Rentrée however, is supposed to be about the children, and this year there are significant changes that come into effect for schools.  For nursery and primary school children, the four-day week comes into effect, where children will receive 24 hours spread over Mon, Tue, Thur and Fri, with an extra two hours of study being offered to children considered to be falling behind.  The 4 day week, which virtually no other European state follows, has been received well by many parents.  However, experts believe that shoe-horning the 24 hours into two blocks of two days will have damaging consequences.

Changes to curriculum

Other reforms include the ‘back to basics' approach. Which will mean 6 to 8-year-olds (CP/CE1), will receive 10 hours of French language, and 5 hours of maths as standard, with the remainder being spent on modern languages, sport, art and world discovery.  For 8 and 9-year-olds (CE2), children will receive 8 hours of French, and 5 hours of maths, and both CE1 (7/8-year old) and CM2 (10/11-year-old) children will face new tests in an effort to improve literacy and numeracy in primary schools.  France faired badly in a recent EU survey which showed that 22% of 15-year-olds have reading difficulties, and around 20% of children leaving primary school do not meet the minimum literacy standards.

Strike action expected

Many of the recent reforms are not popular with teachers and teaching unions, in particular the Service Minimum, which makes mairies responsible for providing cover when 25% or more staff plan to strike, and the requirement for teachers to give 48 hours notice of strike action.  The new reforms have coincided with announcements over teacher recruitment, where 11,200 leavers will not be replaced, and further cutbacks of around 13,500 teachers expected over the next year.  Teachers unions are unhappy, and strike action is expected at the end of September and early-October.