Level groups in middle school: what are the terms of this measure?

The decree which provides for the establishment of “groups” for French and mathematics lessons in college was published this Sunday March 17 in the Official Journal. After several consultations, the Minister of National Education indicated that “a certain flexibility” would be granted in their implementation.

The measure was controversial. The decree on the establishment of level “groups” in mathematics and French lessons was published this Sunday March 17 in the Official Journal. If the text formalizes the timetable for the measure which will take effect from the start of the 2024 school year for sixth and fifth grades, then at the start of the 2025 school year for the fourth and third grades, it has seen its terms evolve. Indeed, there is no longer any question of talking about “level groups”, but “groups formed according to the needs of the students”, we can read. This name, contested by a large part of teachers, the Minister of National Education Nicole Belloubet had indicated preferring to use the expression “need groups” during an interview given to France info, Friday March 15.

Then Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal announced the establishment of these groups as part of the “shock of knowledge” aimed at raising the level of students in middle school. A measure which was far from unanimous among the teaching unions, who had pointed out the risk of “sorting” within the students themselves. “In spirit, the level groups go against the idea that students succeed by working together, by being confronted with diversity (…) There, we will sort the students from 11 years old, by assigning them to their educational level, often correlated to their social origin”, had alerted Sophie Vénétitay of Snes-FSU, the main teachers’ union in secondary schools, reports Ouest France. After several weeks of consultations, Nicole Belloubet announced that “a certain flexibility” would be granted in the establishment of these groups, while mentioning the possibility of “bringing the students together as a whole class” at certain times, continue our colleagues. From now on, whole class groupings become the exception, and mathematics and French teaching groups, the new norm.