Trade unions see this as reinforcing inequality. They were introduced to French and mathematics at the start of the 2024 school year.
Some unions have warned that implementation will be complicated. This Monday, Snes-FSU, the National Union of Secondary School Teachers, demanded, in a press release, the abandonment of level groups in secondary schools in grades 6 and 5.
Officially called requirement groups, they are only implemented by 19% of companies, according to a survey conducted by Snes-FSU. They concern the teaching of mathematics and French. This decision was made by Gabriel Attal, in December 2023, while serving as Minister of Education.
The majority union in secondary education notes a dual trend. Among the 1,441 companies out of 7,000 companies that responded, or nearly a quarter, the decline in the number of companies implementing the reform was 7 points compared to 2024. In contrast, another 11 points were returned to class-wide operations. “The message is clear: the profession refuses to sort out students and more and more companies are succeeding in defeating the reform!» Snes-FSU rejoices.
Consequences on other subject groups
Staff representatives highlighted the report from the general inspection, submitted in June. “Level groups like Gabriel Attal envisions do not benefit students, staff, or our educational system. Groups generate stress and instability. Students are thrust into competition. » They add that, what’s more, “71% to 76% of colleagues report a decrease in their schedules and 46% to 53% of their students’ schedules decrease.”
One college principal at Yonne explained that these groups “create really crazy schedule constraints.” Asked at franceinfo which revealed the union’s investigation this Monday morning, the member of SNPDEN (Management Staff Union) explained that “it was three classes, three groups, so I had to look for three teachers who had classes at the same time”. “With the proliferation of services (Editor’s note: schedule) shared and teachers at some of our institutions added constraints. » A professor from Dax (Landes) added that to form this group it is sometimes necessary to destroy other groups. “There are no more science groups, no more technology groups, no more history-geography groups. Everything that is used on the margins must be brought home to implement these reforms.”
Snes-FSU called for an end to the “knowledge shock”, a common name for ministry policies that include other measures regarding student levels. He called for the abolition of level groups at the start of the 2026 academic year. In his letter to the Minister of Education, Édouard Geffray, he wrote: “trade union surveys, the testimony of our colleagues, the Inspectorate General’s report, the work of researchers, all show that level groups are failing”. Rejecting these groups, according to the union, would be a guarantee of the fight against “academic and social inequality” while the current situation only strengthens this.
