CM2 tests ‘will move to June’

PLANS to change the dates of annual tests given to pupils in the last year of primary school are being contested by teaching unions.

The government intends to test CM2 pupils in June, not January as present, from next year.

The measure is controversial as the current tests are supposed to help teachers evaluate children’s progress so as to better adapt teaching strategies.

A spokesman for the biggest primary teaching union, SNUipp, said: “If they are placed at the end of the year, teachers will not be able to make use of these evaluations - unless the ministry’s intention is, eventually, to recreate a kind of entrance exam for secondary school [last abolished in 1956].”

The tests, in French and maths, are already unpopular with the leading unions, who see the January date itself as too late for teachers to make full use of them.

Education Minister Luc Chatel denied they would be used in any way in entrance applications to secondary schools. To avoid such speculation they would take place after the children had been allocated secondary places, he said. He added they would be a “precious help” in fighting failure, as teachers could use them to pick up on children who could benefit from the personalised help sessions he plans to introduce in the first year of secondary school.

They will also benefit primary teachers by allowing them to evaluate how successful their teaching methods are, he said.

The extra support sessions, starting in the next school year, will be aimed at those 15% of children who have reading difficulties on entering secondary school. They will be carried out by primary teachers so as to strengthen the continuity between primary and secondary, the government says.