Factors for Change in the World of French State Education

For more than 20 years, successive Ministries of Education in France have launched debates about possible reforms to the sector. Various pieces of legislation have been passed (in 1985, 1989, 2005) but the problems persist, in particular with regard to the management of the teaching staff in terms of both quantity and quality. The government elected in June 2007 has therefore set up yet another commission (chaired by Marcel Pochard) to examine the topic with a view ultimately to a further reform of the teaching profession.. The future of education, as perceived through the changes affecting the teachers and their knowledge and skills, is a major challenge. In this article Claude Seibel, who has long studied these matters, focusses on two key concerns in this context: the main aim, which is to ensure equal opportunities for all pupils and that they should successfully complete their education; and the opportunity offered as the present generation of teachers retires to redefine what is expected of the profession. He goes on to present seven decisive factors required to bring about change in the French state education system: overhaul the way teachers are moved between jobs, encourage greater mobility, revive project-based teaching, optimize the use of information technologies, rethink arrangements for information and guidance, reduce failure rates and promote “education for success”. This is an important contribution to the forthcoming debate.