Education reform legislation passed despite protests

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A new law on schools reform was passed by the French National Assembly in March 2005. It is to be fully implemented when the new school year begins in September 2006, despite numerous protests and demonstrations involving, in varying degrees, state education sector employees, parents and students.

In the wake of a period of public debate (FR0411106F) and the tabling by the government of a 'new direction' for schools and training (FR0501101N), the government proposed an 'orientation and planning law on the future of schools' (loi d’orientation et de programme pour l’avenir de l’école) and in March 2005 used an emergency procedure to speed up its parliamentary approval process. The law was passed by the National Assembly on 24 March 2005 and is to be fully implemented when the new school year begins in September 2006.

Content

Two major changes were made to the initial government bill, which was presented as the result of a 'comprehensive national debate' on amending an 'education system orientation law' passed in 1989. The changes made were the following:

• the proposed 'individual road to success contract' (contrat personnalisé de réussite) for failing students is now to become a 'programme'. This change was made to take account of misgivings expressed by some that this might open the door to 'à la carte education'; and

• an explicit reference to changing the current baccalauréat ((high-school diploma) - a plan to reduce the number of final examinations in favour of greater ongoing assessment - was withdrawn. There were many demonstrations in mid-February 2005 by students fearing that the nationwide value of this qualification, which automatically gives students access to the various forms of higher education, might be weakened.

However, other major provisions contained in the legislation were passed. They provide for the following:

• the creation of a 'core knowledge and skills' curriculum for all students, leading to not more than three final examinations for the award of a 'brevet' (education certificate);

• a strengthening of the room for experiment and independence of junior and senior secondary education establishments under the stewardship of their boards of governors;

• the creation within junior and senior secondary education establishments of a teaching committee to promote consultation and assessment. This is not designed, however, to undermine the pedagogical freedom of teachers;

• targeting resources earmarked for 'priority education zones' (Zones d’éducation prioritaire, ZEPs) to those schools facing the most difficulties;

• substantive changes to fifth-form secondary school curricula so that students may choose the shape and direction of their future studies at this stage; and

• a requirement for teachers in junior and senior secondary education establishments to replace occasionally absent colleagues, up to a ceiling of 72 hours a year. It will now be possible for those senior vocational school teachers whose status requires them to be qualified to teach two separate subjects to be assigned to first-year classes as a way of preparing students for secondary education. These measures are included in a supplementary report which, while not voted on as such, has been added as an appendix to the main legislation. Otherwise, these measures would have required changes to the status of teachers.

Quantified targets for the future

The report included in the appendix to the main legislation sets out a number of quantified targets in line with one of the flagship objectives of the still-in-force 1989 legislation: '80% of students of the age cohort should reach the final year of secondary studies'. By 2010, there should be a 10% to 20% increase in the numbers of students in the following categories:

• students from disadvantaged backgrounds attaining a general baccalauréat qualification;

• post-secondary education science students other than those studying health-related subjects;

• females studying science at baccalauréat and post-secondary level;

• students obtaining a European 'B1' qualification in foreign languages;

• students learning German; and

• high-school students studying classical languages.

Lastly, the desired increase in the number of students undertaking apprenticeships within the school setting has been set at 50%.

Many staff in the state education system are opposed to this final goal of developing apprenticeships, and sceptical as to whether sufficient additional resources will be made available to keep up with the increase in enrolment.

Reactions

In the period from January to March 2005, demonstrations against aspects of the reform were organised by an inter-union alliance involving the Unitary Union Federation (Fédération syndicale unitaire, FSU), the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT), the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) and the National Federation of Independent Unions (Union nationale des syndicats autonomes, UNSA) - the same trade unions that have been active on this issue for the past two years (FR0406103N) - often with some support form parents under the banner of the Federation of Parents’ Associations (Fédération des conseils de parents d’élèves, FCPE). The action, though demonstrating that a significant percentage of teachers were still actively fighting the overall policies of the government and, more specifically, its education policies, failed to obtain the desired amendments to the proposed legislation.

In the wake of the defeats suffered by education unions in 2002-3 on changes to pensions (FR0406104F) and the transfer of non-teaching staff to the regions (FR0410105F), not to mention a lack of results in permanent job creation and budget resources, the overall protest movement against the government proposals failed to build any unity.

All trade unions - with the exceptions of the Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff-General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff (Confédération française de l’encadrement-Confédération générale des cadres, CFE-CGC) and the French Christian Workers’ Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC) - came out in opposition to the bill. However, their reasons for opposing the legislation were not the same and, as a result, they failed to put forward the same alternative proposals. This was the case for the 'common core' education initiative. Some have dubbed it minimal education on the cheap, while others view it as a justified initiative still requiring significant discussion.

Students oppose changes to baccalauréat

There was one issue where the protest movement did have success. The government agreed to scrap, at least for the time being, prior continuous assessment counting towards the award of the baccalauréat (see above). This was the main demand of high-school students called to demonstrate by the National Union of High-School Students (Union nationale lycéenne, UNL) and the Independent Democratic Federation of High-School Students (Fédération indépendante et démocratique lycéenne, FIDL). They challenged the bill in its entirety but opposition to the proposed overhaul of the baccalauréat turned out to be the issue that unified and rallied students.

The government, given that it was facing a very tense social situation (FR0504101N), and in a move to avoid further deterioration, opted to withdraw the initiatives referring explicitly to prior continuous assessment. As a result the type of protest action changed. Instead of street demonstrations, more local hard-line tactics, such as the occupation of high schools and action against some education authority offices, were organised.

Commentary

There was no unity among education trade unions in terms of demands on issues relating to education and teaching remits, and the conditions and resources available. A link that was made between the government initiative and budget resources allocated to it turned out to be a unifying factor. A case in point was the slogan for a demonstration held on 2 April 2005: 'Against the break-up of public education'. Undoubtedly, further action can be expected when the next state education budget is announced.

In September 2004, the education minister had restricted his goal to 'adapting' the 1989 legislation. Even though the new law goes beyond this stated objective, the current balance of power does not appear to indicate that there is any possibility of the government withdrawing its legislation. However, this remains the stated aim of those unions most opposed to the bill - FSU and the education union affiliated to Solidarity, Unity, Democracy (Solidaires, unitaires, démocratiques, SUD).

The readiness of state education staff to take action has not been dampened, as demonstrated by large numbers of them participating in recent demonstrations to safeguard wages and purchasing power (FR0504101N). Future action by this group will possibly focus on selective opposition to specific measures relating to the implementation of the new legislation. The election of employee representatives on all joint departmental administrative committees (commissions administratives paritaires départementales, CAPDs), joint regional administrative committees (commissions administratives paritaires académiques, CAPAs) and joint national administrative committees (commissions administratives paritaires nationales, CAPNs) will have an impact, since the four-month election campaign will revive competition between the various unions. This is usually a period that does not produce much in the way of unified union action. (Dominique Guibert, IRES)