School goes back to basics

NEW proposals for the primary school and collège curriculum from the rentrée 2016 have a ‘back to basics’ approach.

Lots of reading and writing and arithmetic are being recommended as well as chronological history and studying classic literature in the plan which relates to the period from the first year of obligatory schooling (CP) to the fourth year of secondary school (troisième).

This comes after a previous draft was criticised for issues like not telling the ‘national story’ coherently or being too politically-correct (for example privileging teaching about Islam instead of Christianity). The last version was also criticised for the way it was written – including jargon like calling swimming pools le milieu aquatique profond standardisé.

Under the new proposals, by a panel of education experts called the Conseil Supérieur des Programmes created in 2013 to overhaul curriculums, Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem says: “Continual practice at reading and writing and the discipline that comes from daily dictées [dictation exercises for spelling accuracy] are indispensable.”

The minister said on top of the ten hours a week usually devoted to French, there will be another ten of daily oral, reading and writing practice. As for maths, there is an emphasis on counting and on daily practice of mental arithmetic.

By cinquième a child must be able to write unaided and in good French a text of up to 200 words, or by quatrième and troisième, 400-600 words.

In place of a previous version that only referred to themes to be studied in literature, the new curriculum gives more specifics. Without going as far as an author list which some had called for, it requires, for example, studying poetry from antiquity to the 19th century and 17th century theatre.

Though Molière is not named, children must “read a complete comedy from the 17th century” in cinquième.

As for history, while the previous version made some key periods such as the 18th century Lumières optional, all periods are now obligatory. The First World War, previously placed at the end of quatrième and which teachers feared they would not have enough time to cover properly, is now combined with study of the “total wars” of the 20th century, a major theme in troisième.

In terms of religious history there is a new topic called “Christendom and Islam – worlds in contact”.

The curriculum will come in at the same time as other reforms of collège (unpopular with some teachers who went on strike yesterday), including a new focus on so called ‘interdisciplinary’ lessons.

For example, the curriculum includes a module about ‘information, communication and citizenship’, including looking at how propaganda has been used and combining history, French and modern languages.

The new curriculum is split into three ‘cycles’, Cycle 1: CP, CE1, CE2; Cycle 2: CM1, CM2, sixième, and Cycle 3: cinquième, quatrième and troisième.

It now has to be approved by teachers by the middle of next month.