Reading Instruction in the Primary Grades
Instructional Time
With the introduction of the four day week in 2008, French students had the lowest number of school days per year among the 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries: 144 days in France compared to an average of 187 days. The four day week created longer and busier school days for students in France, caused tiredness and learning difficulties, and seemed inappropriate and detrimental to learning.
A January 2013 reform of school time in preprimary and primary schools led to a better distribution of class time throughout the week, creating a shorter school day and allowing teachers to work with students when they are best able to concentrate on learning. Students are supervised until at least 4:30 p.m. and have access to athletic, cultural, or artistic activities that contribute to the development of their intellectual curiosity and enhance their enjoyment of learning and being at school. The school time reform also established a new scheduling protocol: the distribution of the 24 hours of weekly instruction over nine half days, including Wednesday morning; a school day of 5½ hours maximum and a half day of 3½ hours maximum; and a lunch break of 1½ hours minimum. The addition of three hours of class on Wednesday morning reduced the length of the other school days by an average of 45 minutes.
The school year in France lasts at least 36 weeks, according to the national school calendar established by the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education, and Research. All students receive 24 hours of instruction per week, and underachieving students may receive an additional two hours of personalized help. The 24 hours of compulsory instruction are divided across five days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning, Thursday, and Friday. Weekly schedules may vary depending on teacher planning, but must comply with the annual quantities specified for each of the subject areas.
Instructional Materials
France does not prescribe compulsory instructional methods or materials for instruction. Commercial publishers, local or regional associations, and resource centers offer a range of materials. Teachers discuss and decide on teaching equipment and materials at their school.
In 2003, the National Reading Observatory addressed the issue of how best to select and use a reading schoolbook for Grade 1 students. While the observatory’s published manual did not provide a specific list of recommendations, it presented a complete and meticulous analysis of textbooks through clearly defined criteria.17
Generally, official documents recommend using textbooks for instruction (without specifying which ones), particularly for new teachers. These documents also require teachers to use additional pedagogical materials to supplement textbooks in class, pointing out that teacher facilitated reading of literature also is necessary and remains the primary means of fostering the comprehension of complex texts.
Use of Technology
In public schools, the average number of students per computer is 21 at the preprimary level (maternelles) and nine at the primary level.18 Public schools that participated in the digital development plan in rural schools (École numérique rurale) are better equipped, with six students per computer. The plan helped equip more than 6,000 schools in towns with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants. In lower secondary schools in the 2014–2015 school year, the average number of students per computer was four.
For Internet access, 81 percent of primary schools use a filtering device. Most primary schools (6 in 10) have an Internet connection speed of 512 kB/s to 2,048 kB/s. Most lower secondary schools (58 percent) have an Internet connection speed of 2 MB/s to 10 MB/s, and 26 percent of lower secondary schools have an Internet connection speed faster than 10 MB/s.
Students in France may obtain a computer and Internet certificate, or Brevet informatique et Internet (B2i), certifying their skills in the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) at three proficiency levels: primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary. Students are expected to acquire skills throughout their education in five areas through learning activities and projects. The extent to which computers are used for reading instruction at the primary level is unknown.
Second Language Instruction
Children who do not speak French and recently arrived in France comprise 4 percent of the overall student population. The French school system has provisions for integrating these students so that they become fluent enough in French to follow ordinary class curricula. Provisions include remedial courses and “initiation” classes. Integrated remedial courses are held for small groups of children within ordinary classes. “Initiation” classes, which use a special syllabus for students who do not speak French, group together students in Grades 1 to 5 (with a maximum of 15 students per class) to provide instruction in French as a second language. The role of these classes is to integrate students who do not speak French into ordinary classes as quickly as possible. In 2010, 18,500 students benefited from classes that taught French as a second language.19
Accommodation Policies for Instruction and Testing
The Réseaux d’Aides Spécialisées aux Élèves en Difficultés (network of specialist aids for struggling students) assists children with learning difficulties as an institutional network of teachers and psychologists. The network’s mission calls for working with teachers to provide special assistance in or outside the classroom to students who are struggling in mainstream classes. Assistance is not specific to reading and can include educational, rehabilitative, and/or psychological support. Heads of school, network members, and teachers of underachieving students collaborate to plan special assistance.