Major changes for schools

SCHOOLS are set for widespread changes - including the much-touted return to a four-and-a-half day week - as President Hollande prepares to set out plans to overturn years of poor performance.

The scale of the task is revealed in a new report which says that schooling in France has "struggled to enter the 21st century".

President Hollande will reveal his proposals to rebuild confidence in education this week with proposals for a new law to be introduced before the end of the year.

His government had set up the Refondons l’école Rebuild Education inquiry in July with the aim of identifying problem areas and solutions.

The report, headed by leading educationist Christian Forestier, found that one in three primary pupils was judged as "poor" or "very poor", one in five left school without real qualifications, and just one in three students gained a degree.

With unemployment at a 13-year high of more than three million and more than one-in-five young people out of work, the education system is being blamed for not preparing them for working life.

The report has called for a more "benevolent" form of education with schools being more welcoming, respectful of children's natural rhythms, a change in holidays and a less heavy school day. It wants schools that prevent violence and especially allow all pupils to get into good learning habits from their earliest days.

The school week would change to a four-and-a-half day week, with a preference for Wednesday morning classes, and pupils would spend more time working in groups.

Repeating classes would also be dropped as too costly and ineffective and the report also says teachers should stop using notes to parents as a way to highlights children's faults.

Obligatory homework would be dropped but replaced with work to be done in school with classrooms open until later in the afternoon, with personalised assistance.
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