New Baccalaureate Planned for French Schools from 2009

President Sarkozy has announced a radical reform of the baccalaureate qualification, bringing to an end the current streaming of pupils into different disciplines. Speaking to an audience of the educational elite on the bicentenary of the acclaimed Napoleonic qualification, the President stated that the present baccalaureate system had failed most ordinary families, with many only receiving results that were mediocre, and that University admissions continued to be dominated by a favoured minority of households. In order to change things he proposed to remove the ‘rigidities’ of the present system, and give students greater choice over the subjects they studied. The new syllabus will be phased in over three years, commencing September 2009. This would bring an end to the present streaming system, in which students are required at the end of the first year to begin a degree of specialisation in their chosen discipline, whether social sciences, literature or science. President Sarkozy expressed concern that the science stream was far too dominant, with an implicit degree of selectivity in those who entered it, leaving a sense of failure for those who followed the other routes. Although the details of the new baccalaureate have yet to be produced, it seems that all students will in future be required to follow a more general education, but with the right to choose individual subjects within the general qualification. However, there are many who believe the options available will be reduced from those currently available, and that the plans are little more than an attempt to reduce the level of expenditure on Lycee education. As the abolition of streaming is likely to reduce the number of options, so there is likely to be a reduction in the number of teachers required to deliver the subjects. Indeed, not only will there be fewer subjects, but the number of study hours is to also be reduced, with the clear prospect that, once again, there will be a need for fewer teachers. It is already noteworthy that the period of qualification for the vocational baccalaureate has been reduced from four to three years. Many also question whether in practice the President has overstated the degree of specialisation that occurs at Lycee. In the first year all students follow the same syllabus, much of which is carried in to year 2. It is only in the final year, that a significant divergence occurs between the three streams. The baccalaureate actually offers a student a good, broad education, whatever the stream they enter. As well as proposing changes to the baccalaureate, the President also announced that he wished to abolish France’s teacher training colleges. In future, all teacher-training would be undertaken at a university, where teachers would henceforth be required to attain a Master’s Degree in order to be admitted to the profession. This will mean at least year of additional study for trainee teachers, and without a substantial rise in their salary it is likely the Government is going to find it difficult to attract a sufficient number of new recruits into the profession. Nevertheless, for the Government, abolition of the colleges would both reduce costs and dismantle a bastion of left-wing radicalism. France has seen widespread strikes and demonstrations from teachers and Lyceens alike over the past year, protesting against the reduction in the number of teachers in schools. This latest proposal is only likely to inflame those passions, and bring about new disruption to schools in September. You can read more about secondary school eduction in France in our comprehensive Guide to School Education in France.