Preparing for Collège

My youngest son is in CM2 and going to Collège next September. He seems to be remarkably unmoved by this impending change except for the idea of taking the bus which appeals tremendously.

Last night there was a meeting for parents of these future collegiens to introduce the Principal and present the curriculum. I nearly didn't go. My eldest son only left last year and I didn't feel there was much I could learn. Then I remembered how they keep mucking around with education and thought it best to attend just in case.

In the end I was glad to make the effort. I arrived 10 minutes early which meant I got the penultimate car parking space (officially at least) and, armed with my Kindle went in to wait and read. Have Kindle, will wait happily. Actually I could have spent my time saying hello to other mummies I know (and some dads) but I'm an anti-social bugger so after a bit of that on the way in, I sought peace in my book.

There must have been about 300 people there; the room was packed in fact. The Principal introduced himself and started talking about courses and options. In 6e the kids can do the usual run of subjects plus English or 'bilingual English-German', no Spanish which is bizarre considering how close we live to the Spanish border (when my eldest son was in 6e there was Spanish but no German!).

In 5e they can take one of two options if they like - Latin or French Sign Language because there are about 20 mal-entendant kids in the school and the idea is to get other kids to able to talk to them. I thought this a remarkably good idea, but I want my son to do Latin. He is not keen to put it mildly, but he is so 'inculte' (and proud of it!) that I want him to make the effort, especially as at least half the course is based on historical and social study which is really interesting. My youngest has Playmobil Roman soldiers and even the amphitheatre. When I pointed this out, he said that he just likes getting them to kill each other as gladiators, just like he enjoys battles between his modern soldiers.

My eldest son decided to stir the pot by adding that it would help with history lessons so he'd be able to get easy marks because he would already have studied some of the material. Anyway, as I said to my youngest, I don't often put my foot down absolutely, but I know what's good for him in this case, and he will study Latin in 5e. End of.

Back in the room, one parent was asking how he could prevent his child from having Mr B, a French teacher. When the Principal (unwisely) asked why, the dad said that his eldest child had suffered from two years of this teacher's regular absences, got no effective teaching from him and had had to have two years of private lessons to make up for the lack of teaching. You can imagine the ripple of murmuring discontent that swept across the sea of parents. The Principal was not more than mildly put out, considering the seriousness of the charge, and responded that while Mr B might have been absent for training 'from time to time', the Principal was not able to have him covered so it was basically just tough. And there was nothing the dad could do to avoid his second child having this teacher. There was no uproar from the rest of the room. Everyone knows that the education of kids is sacrificed to the alter of union power which years ago negotiated total job security of teachers making it impossible to sack them, and budget issues.

My eldest son, who also had Mr B, said that this teacher was forever ill in fact, but not all the time, and covering for patchy absences is not as simple to put in place as a one nice long regular absence. If my youngest has Mr B, I'm not going to stand by and do nothing. Every single missed lesson will be noted and I'll then send in a report to the Rectorat with a complaint. If I can get hold of other parents to do the same then the volume of complaints might end with action. Some hope, but I still think it's important to complain.

I heard another bad teacher story on Sunday when we were celebrating my youngest's birthday (which is next week) at Paintball with 12 of his friends and brother. They had a lovely time while I looked on with a couple of mothers. One of them told me about her son who is having a terrible time in school at the moment with a toxic teacher. He is also in CM2 and this teacher has been telling him he's an idiot and incapable. From being a content kid happy to learn, he is now a wreck, wrings his hands when he has to do his homework and is anxious all the time when he goes to school.

Naturally the parents are appalled and have started to take action, going to the school to talk to the teacher, but coming away frustrated because this teacher won't let anyone finish a sentence. She interrupts the whole time and dismisses all discussion (and it's interesting to note that she is going through some personal problems at the moment so could be taking it out on this kid?). They were due to have a meeting with the teacher and the head yesterday to ask the teacher to 'fouter le paix' - leave the kid alone until the end of June. I hope they got their message across.

Teaching is not supposed to be about demoralising kids and destroying the desire to learn, but as many people go into teaching in France for reasons other than to teach (job security, long holidays), the result is some stunningly bad teachers who leave a wake of destruction and emotional wreckage behind them.

It only takes one bad teacher to ruin a kid's desire to learn.

School's Out

My eldest was told that school was essentially out from yesterday. This is because the pupils of troisième were sitting the Brevet. I have just realised that this is the French version of O'Levels. Or rather, it's a series of exams you sit at the end of four years of collège, just before you go to Lycée, but they don't determine what you go on to study for the Baccalauréat.

There are three exams over two days : French, History/Geography/Civic Education, Maths. These combine with continuous assessment in other subjects, and you can gain extra points by doing an optional subject such as Latin, Greek, a regional language or foreign language. There's also a new computer/internet component where you have to prove you are competent to use a computer and use the internet. I doubt many kids would fail that. My eldest assures me he spends much time on the computer working towards this very test. Practice makes perfect, he says...

Funny how he applies a different attitude to the electric guitar...

Despite the fact that collège officially finishes next Thursday, the kids have been told they can just not turn up from now on. Cool! What with strikes and ill teachers, it's a wonder they got taught anything at all, but I heard from a woman on the parents association that his class was considered a very good one and they finished the programme with time to spare. That says more about the lightweight nature of the programme than the intellectual level of the class in my opinion. They've basically had no homework since April which of course means no marking either...

To celebrate the end of the year at my youngest's école, we'll be going to the kermesse tonight where various games are laid on, you can buy cakes and savouries, and generally let off some steam. My youngest and I made a boiled fruit cake last night which we'll take along. It smelt so good I had to severely restrain myself from digging in, mind. True to my dissolute mummy nature, I'll be going with a cooled bottle of wine brought by my pal C so we can enjoy the evening with a chilled apero.

We created a bit of a stir when we did this at the end of year show the other week too. I brought along cushions as we were sitting on concrete blocks in an exterior amphitheatre, got the bottle of 'water' out and poured some lovely cool white wine that we sipped, and nibbled on olives and peanuts. We did enjoy the show. It was such a civilized way to watch our little darlings perform as ferocious conquistadors with their charcoal 'five o'clock shadows'.

It'll be interesting to see next year who has the same brilliant idea. Maybe we'll have started something. Or maybe we'll just be branded as Irresponsible Mummies and ignored jealously. No skin off my nose, I never talk to anyone anyway!

Invisible at School

This is how French education works where my eldest is at collège.

• You go to school, you have no problems, you work, you are sufficiently bright to get by, you are motived = perfect student.
• You go to school, you are not motivated, you are bright but don't work = invisible student.
• You go to school and wreak havoc = visible but pain in the butt student.

French teachers like the first type of pupil because they cause no trouble and do not require any particular attention beyond the teacher turning up.

For the second, parents are advised to resort to private tuition to fill the knowledge gaps, but no one really cares whether you get it or not as long as you don't make trouble.

The third type are just trouble.

Pastoral care in French schools does not exist. It may be necessary to privately educate my eldest because he is not motivated and no one at school cares if he does his homework or not. No one tries to motivate him and the staff are off as often as possible with no replacement teacher to ensure the programme is followed.

Their solution to any problem is to have private lessons. For the price of private lessons in three subjects, you can send your child to a private school where teachers are expected to ensure the children work properly. I am actually pretty disgusted with the general desire of teachers to have 'invisible' pupils. Children are not robots and teaching is not an ordinary job. You can't just turn up. You have to engage with the kids. Making expectations regarding their work is a minimum. Parents cannot be cracking the whip at home if at school teachers spend half their time off for depression and the rest of the time on strike.

And I live in a nice area!

Mummy Goes to School

This evening I went to visit my eldest's new school - the collège. It was a special evening for parents and we were taken around it in groups. It brought flooding back memories of school, and how ghastly it was, with the smells of the canteen, science benches and so on.

I knew some of the mummies, and one was going on about how bad her son's present teacher is to other mummies of children in the same class. My son's teacher, in fact. I think the teacher is great, but it seems that she expects very high standards, and lots of effort. She would not do well in a sink school... The boy in question is a problem child; very sensitive, fragile and a total coward. His mother reckons his teacher didn't make any attempt to bring him out, but just pushed him down.

My son tells another story about how this boy is such a disruptive element in class, never answers questions, never works and drives the teacher mad. His mother is hoping that the new school and new teachers will help her son forget this last year and set him on a new educational path... I hope he doesn't get in with a bad crowd. Children come from very many local villages to this school so there are over 700 pupils, thus increasing the likelihood of bad elements.

When I was at school it was the teachers who took on various pastoral roles. In France, the pastoral aspect is dealt with by 'Vie Scolaire' comprising of a whole office of staff. Each child has a liaison book where absences etc. are notified, and if they are not dealt with properly, parents receive a letter sent by the post informing them that proper procedures have not ensured an explanation of their child's absence. It seems to be very well organised.

My eldest will be taking German next year as his first language. He'll also have the sciences split into their component parts, study technology, and manual skills. Weirdly however, he won't learn how to type. I find this very odd and a great shortcoming in education. It's one of the primary skills in the modern age - as important as writing, and yet children are left to struggle. I had downloaded a freeware teaching typing before my hard drive died a death last week, and will search out another for my new one. I'm one of those terrible middle class mummies who invests effort to improve her children's future...

It will be quite daunting for my eldest next September. He'll go from being top dog in a small school, to small fry in a big one. I hope he'll take advantage of all that's on offer, however, especially amongst all sporting activities at lunch time that are being proposed in the super new sports' hall.

By the way, my youngest has gone from wanting to play the electric guitar (too young, said the teacher) to playing the flute! I didn't even know he knew what a flute was, but he has the lips for it so we'll see... what he says next week...