Teachers told to write better notes

TEACHERS have been told by President Hollande to be more positive when they are writing up children's notes report cards to parents.

Speaking as he announced a raft of changes to the school system, he said that the objective would be to show the level attained in a simple and easy-to-understand way rather than to give a blunt negative view of lack of progress.

It would evolve to include group-work and reviews of class projects but also an indication of the pupil's organisation, initiative or social abilities.

Parents have said they don't want notes to be dumped, with an opinion poll for parents group Apel showing 69% were satisifed. However, parents have also complained many teachers were too negative in their approach - highlighting what the child could not do and ignoring what they could do.

Le Figaro said that Hollande's call would mean the end of reports giving pupils zero points.

The president said that each year around 140,000 young people left the education system "without a diploma or a qualification" and he wanted to rebuild the system to stop pupils dropping out.

He said it would start in primary schools with new teaching methods and more teachers. Homework would also be done in school so that poorer pupils could be helped to improve.

Hollande was speaking after receiving the results of a three-month consultation on education changes and said he accepted the report's call for a move to a four-and-a-half day week and other improvements.

See previous article:Major changes for schools
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