Middle school level groups: mobilization continues

La mise en place des groupes de niveau au collège à partir de la rentrée 2024 soulève de nombreuses questions dans les établissements. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

Une vingtaine de personnes ont manifesté ce mercredi 26 juin devant le rectorat de Montpellier contre la mise en place de groupe de niveau au collège.

The demonstrators are beginning to know the slightest reliefs of the stone walls of the Montpellier rectorate. For the umpteenth time, parents of students and teachers from several colleges in Montpellier and the surrounding area gathered on the square to protest against the establishment of level groups.

A categorization of students

From the start of the 2024 school year, 6th and 5th grade students will be separated into three different groups in mathematics and French, before expanding to 4th and 3rd grades in September 2025.

"We fear that students whose level is considered low will be sidelined throughout their schooling. Students assigned from the 6th grade to the group of so-called struggling students risk staying there until the 3rd grade", complains Mathieu Marchal, teacher at the Villeneuve-lès-college Maguelone. And add: "In the long term, this will just widen the level gaps with the other students”.

Classes always overloaded

Especially since according to the unions, the reform will not solve the problem of overcrowded places. "Yet this is what prevents our children from progressing. At the college of Saint-Jean de Védas, no level will have an enrollment lower than 28", complains Mathieu Marchal.

A similar situation in the establishments of Fabrègues, Lattes and Pérols. A delegation of demonstrators was received at the rectorate in the afternoon.