What should have been a relaxed interview for the French Minister of Education It ended up becoming his worst nightmare. This week, Edward Geffray He was invited to the France 5 television program C to you. Everything was going well until the program’s collaborators decided to test the minister with a spelling test.
Live, between laughter and jokes, no one imagined that Geffray would not be able to write the words correctly: welcome, dilemma o coccyx. “I’m sorry,” he said, blushing while admitting his mistake, but far from stopping, he continued the test. “Minister is never written with a capital letter, unlike President of the Republic. And “National Education” depends on the context,” he stated. However, just seconds before, he had found it more difficult to capitalize “World War I.” Despite its failures, The minister is known in the country for his intransigence with spelling mistakes in high school students.
The video already accumulates thousands of views and harsh comments in which the level of the official in charge of the Ministry of Education is criticized. “He kept the helm (DGESCO) during France’s worst fall in the international PISA ranking, 21 points lost in dunks, something never seen before. And is he the intransigent who demands zero errors from the kids? You sank the ship, shut up,” criticizes a Twitter user.
Crisis in education
The scene would have remained a simple anecdote if it were not for the fact that the French educational system is in a delicate situation. For years, European and national studies have warned of the progressive deterioration of the educational level of the country’s youth, especially in mathematics.
The PISA 2022 edition showed a significant drop of up to 21 points among French 15-year-old students, especially in mathematics. Although this decrease was generalized in many countries and France is average compared to other countries, it is true that it has registered a decrease compared to previous evaluations. Another recent study, TIMSS 2023, also placed French primary and secondary school students below the average of European and OECD countries in mathematics and sciences. In the tests carried outonly 3% of the students reached the advanced levelcompared to the 11% registered by the group of participating countries.
Added to this drop in level is another concern for experts; he increasing inequalities between students. Although France has excellent young people, social inequalities within the classrooms are increasingly evident, generating a direct impact on the academic performance of the students.
A setback in the educational level, an increase in inequalities in the classrooms and a significant shortage of teachers. According to data collected by the OECD for PISA 2022, more than two thirds of French students They were enrolled in schools whose directors declare difficulties in hiring enough teachers. This situation has forced the Government to launch national teacher recruitment campaigns. However, from the educational sector they point out a clear reason for the lack of teachers; the precarious working conditions.
In this context, Minister Geffray’s error has been interpreted by many as a clear sign of the current state of education in the country.
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