"It is my responsibility to take charge of the drama of injustice that our school system feeds by not allowing the poorest enough to hope to transform their social condition"
, wrote the Minister of Education on June 27, Pap Ndiaye, in his letter to teachers.
While the historian specializing in the black condition brandishes the fight against inequalities as his first priority, the European deputy (LR) François-Xavier Bellamy, guest on July 3 of the Grand Rendez-vous
Europe 1, Cnews, Les Échos
affirmed that the French school was "
the most unequal of all the OECD
".
"
It is not, as the Minister of National Education thinks, because French culture is structurally racist, but because it is no longer transmitted
, ”retorts the philosopher.
What about?
Is France the country where the social, economic and cultural background has the greatest influence on pupils' academic results?
To answer this question, we must look at the wealth of information provided since 2000 by the OECD, through its Pisa assessment (
programme for international student assessment
), carried out every three years among 15-year-old students, and in particular on its index of economic, social and cultural status (ESCS).
Poor results
The results of the latest ranking, published in 2019, are clear in " reading
comprehension
" (reading and writing): it is in France that the performance gap linked to social origin is the highest in the world. OECD (47 points, against 37 on average).
This link has been reduced since 2009, when it stood at 51 points, against 38 on average in the OECD.
In “
mathematical culture
”, the picture is a little less bleak.
The gap is 47 points, still above the OECD average (36 points), but less pronounced than in 2012 (57 points for France, 39 for the OECD).
Slovakia and Hungary are above France on this indicator, and Belgium at the same level.
Read alsoPap Ndiaye comes out of silence, teachers reserved
If we are only interested in school performance, France, in the Pisa 2019 ranking, is in the bottom of the top 20, far behind the Asian countries, Estonia, Canada and Finland which prance in the lead, and at a level comparable to that of Germany, Belgium, Portugal or the Czech Republic.
An average position for the 7th world economic power, but honourable.
Still, if France is maintained, it is thanks to its elite which remains very efficient.
A quarter of the best-performing French students show a level comparable with the best-ranked countries, while a quarter of the worst-performing students are ranked at the level of the most lagging countries, such as Turkey.
Social inequalities are running at full speed: 20% of "
advantaged
" students are among those with the best results, but only 2% of "
disadvantaged
" students.
“
In reading comprehension, pupils in vocational lycées obtained results 100 points lower than those obtained by pupils in general and technological lycées
,
against an average difference of 68 points in the OECD
, pointed out the organization.
The weakest students are more often grouped together in the same establishments,”
she added.
“
New Inflections
”
While waiting for the results of the next Pisa, which will be published in December 2023, the Minister of Education affirmed in an interview on June 26 with Le
Parisien
that the fight against inequalities was his priority.
With ecology.
“
There will be new and strong inflections
,” promised Pap Ndiaye, referring to a French school that “
does very badly with disadvantaged children.
This situation is not acceptable.
This is my starting point: do we accept these educational inequalities, yes or no?
“Declarations which, without details given on the actions to be implemented, are, for the time being, magical thinking.
The duplication of CP and CE1 classes, carried out during Macron's first five-year term in priority education, has led to mixed results.
The Marseille experiment, launched at the very end of the five-year term, promises to give more resources and room for maneuver to disadvantaged schools, with projects.
Emmanuel Macron, after his re-election, announced on June 2 his "
generalization
“, without the framework being specified.
The Affelnet reform - the procedure for assigning college students to Parisian high schools - still causes a lot of turmoil.
Extended this year to Henri IV and Louis Le Grand, it aims for more social and academic diversity.
In the capital, the fight against inequality is going badly with voters.
And what about these suburbs, where segregation is such that diversity seems impossible to achieve?
In summary
, it is true that the French school is the most unequal of the OECD countries, at least for reading and writing.
For mathematics, the picture is certainly less black, but remains very dark, according to the latest data from the international organization.