Mixed views on French schooling

Primary and secondary education in the UK seems to have the same failure as in France - it is more interested in teaching the bright ones and the others are left to their own devices.

To some extent this is due to class numbers. You can do much more with class sizes of 15 or less. I speak as a former university lecturer.

The other issue is that the examination system measures what exists at the end of a year but does nothing about the fact that the child has not understood much of what he/she should have learned. Education is about building bricks. To be able to write the language you must understand basic grammar, sentence construction and spelling. With mathematics you need to start at basic numbers, multiplication and fractions.

If you do not understand any part you cannot build on your knowledge. The child then becomes despondent and accepts the fact that he is perceived as a dunce and behaves accordingly. At university the first year is often remedial and one wonders about what the student has been doing for the past 12 years. It is an indictment of the system which fails the child. Language and numeracy are necessary to comprehend other subjects. Something like 50% of adults in prison are illiterate and perhaps their troubles are in part caused by the inability to communicate and not feel part of the community. Education is vital to everyone.

Michael Miles
By email

My 15-year-old daughter just returned from a two week culture and language trip to Russia, organised by the Lycée Salvador Allende at Caen where she is studying first year of her bilingual Bac.

Soon she goes to Stuttgart to stay with a host family and spend eight weeks in a German college.

When we visit the Chinese restaurant in Bayeux she can order in Chinese, having spent two years studying the language at the superb Letot College in Bayeux.

Last year she enjoyed trips to Italy and Belgium for history and Latin studies. She is fluent in German and French, while Chinese - on hold at the moment - is at the restaurant ordering stage, and Russian is opening up.

Our experience of the French school system has been extremely fortunate in that we have fallen upon the most motivated and skilled group of staff we could possibly have hoped for – way above any expectation we had in the UK education system that we experienced for a short while 10 years ago.

Adrian Cox, Arromanches

My daughter is 11 and about to finish CM2. She has been in France since January 2006 and I am disappointed in the lack of varied education.

It seems to be constant maths and French with no time to express themselves with art, sport or music.

If she had not learnt French I would be very disappointed in the primary education system.

On a positive note, our son who is just turning 18 is progressing very well in a lycée professionnel and we are very happy with that.

Terry Footitt, Auzelles,
Auvergne