Fight against failure at school and inequality in education

Peer Learning Cluster or other group

Background

Youth riots in 2005 in urban areas with a high concentration of unemployed and poor families drew attention on the need to provide schools with the adequate means and to open the path to innovative approaches to inclusion through education. School performance in primary and secondary education was generally recognized as a relevant indicator of future trainability and employability which is the basis for social inclusion understood both as professional and civic participation in society.

The recent wave of adaptation and reform is embedded in the law passed in April 2005 which traces the vision, sets the goals, the line of responsibility and the procedures, and guarantees the provision of means (financial and personnel) and monitoring. Two years of implementation of the measures for social inclusion in education are a sufficient time span to assess the achievements and challenges, and to identify transferable lessons in the EU context.

The proportion of early school leavers in France is lower than the EU average (13% against an average of about 15.5%). Nevertheless, the policy concern is not only about the size of the population affected but relates also to the fact that early school leavers are  highly concentrated among some sectors of the population, notably those living in the housing estates at the outskirts of the agglomerations, many of whom have an immigrant background. This is a serious challenge for the commitment to equal opportunities enshrined in the French constitution and laws.

Some 14% of pupils repeat a year at least once already during the first five years of elementary education. Underachievement at school, in France like elsewhere, is frequently associated with the broad array of social deprivations in the family environment. Typical are relational problems within family; housing problems such as overcrowding and poor quality of dwellings; low household income; unemployment of adult household members; low level of initial education of parent(s) which is exacerbated by poor knowledge of the French language, and/or the illegal status of parent(s).

Description

 Education policy and social inclusion

There is a high level of policy commitment for guaranteeing equal opportunities to master the core knowledge and skills during the compulsory education (until age 16). General and specific measures are directed at preventing underachievement of pupils at school and leaving statutory education without obtaining a certificate or a qualification.

The priority education strategies aim to eliminate inequalities in achievement of pupils attending schools in deprived districts and those going to schools in more prosperous neighbourhoods. A comprehensive programme ‘Ambition to succeed’ guarantees additional resources (financial and personnel) and an improved organizational structure through the establishment of networks of schools, partnerships between stakeholders, and supervision and monitoring of implementation.

The general measures targeted to underachieving pupils encompass the personalized programme for educational success (tailor-made for each pupil); access to knowledge about professional and vocational options; relay or transition classes as the medium-term intensive personalized support in special groups; and the general integration mission for adolescents aged 16+ who are no longer under statutory obligation to attend school and are at risk of remaining without a qualification.

Specific measures within the school environment include learning support at school (during and after school hours) and ‘open school’ (during school vacation, and days when there are no formal classes such as on Wednesday afternoon and Saturday).

Lessons learned

The strong points of the French context may be summarized as follows:

Policy and legislation

• Firm political commitment at the national level
• Inter-ministerial cooperation and partnerships in policy formulation
• Legislation underpinning the policy commitment
• Legal obligation to provide means (financial and personnel)
• Monitoring of implementation

Implementation

• Holistic approach which encapsulates preventative and remedial measures
• Top-down definition of values, norms and guidelines
• Bottom-up elaboration of specific projects by the school in partnership with local and municipal actors
• Partnerships between teachers and other pedagogical staff such as social workers, psychologists, and other stakeholders such as youth organizations, and local authorities
• Partnerships between secondary schools and industry and higher school establishments

The challenges for the successful enhancement of equity are associated with the need to further:

• Enhance innovative pedagogical practices
• Decrease variable quality across schools in deprived areas
• Avoid overlapping of measures in order to make better use of resources 

The key sources of inspiration and reflection:

• While considering options for increasing the choice of schools, the main pursuit of solutions to fight underachievement should be to ensure that all schools meet high quality standards
• Increasing awareness among adolescents’ of their potential and ambition may require preferential treatment of pupils from deprived neighbourhoods to access higher education
• Aesthetics and school architecture are important for improving social dynamics and motivation of pupils
• Bringing young drop-outs back to school via relay or transitional classes is an example of transferable good practice