France: the much-needed relaunch of secondary education

The start of the 2012 school year, prepared mainly by the former administration (the Sarkozy government) has been a difficult one for secondary schools, owing to a lack of resources and the job cuts of recent years.

Thirty five thousand posts were lost in secondary schools during President Sarkozy’s five years in power, under a policy of non-replacement of one civil servant in two. These massive job cuts have left colleges and secondary schools severely stretched, affecting pupils, teaching staff and non-teaching staff alike. The combination of pupil numbers and job cuts (-6,550) has left its mark. Class sizes have risen in many cases to 28 or 30 pupils in colleges and 35 or more in secondary schools.

This policy has led to a severe recruitment crisis, hence the need to make jobs in education attractive once more. The urgent measures initiated since July – including job creation - taken by the new government, are a step in the right direction, albeit with limited scope. The choices to be made this autumn in terms of education policy and the budget will be decisive.