“Unilateral and incomprehensible decision”
The four-hour block which today brings together physics and chemistry, life and Earth sciences, and technology in 6th grade, and technology will be “reconfigured”, we explain to the ministry. The technology will now be studied from the 5th class.
“This time it’s technology. Maybe next year, it will be physics and chemistry”, annoys Christophe Lucas, professor of technology unionized at Snes-FSU. “Techno is concrete for students. In 6th grade, for example, we tackle the use of the internet and its shortcomings because they consume it but do not know how to use it at all”.
The FCPE, the first federation of parents of students, denounces a “unilateral and incomprehensible” decision. The Sud Education union points to a reform “in total opposition to the educational challenges of our century, such as fighting against global warming, reindustrializing the country, training students in experimental sciences and critical thinking”.
“Anything but useless”
Willy Leroux, professor of technology in a college in the North, regrets “the lack of consultation in this decision”. “We sacrificed techno in 6th grade on a whim, which shocked and angered us because it gives the impression that it is a useless subject”.
For Alain Cadix, member of the Academy of Technologies, an institution which brings together more than 3,000 experts, technology is “anything but useless”. “This subject is directly linked to digital and climate issues, essential to teach from the 6th grade,” he explains. “However, it may be necessary to take advantage of this” accident “in 6th grade created by the ministry to redefine this subject by bringing a broader reflection”, he suggests.
Reinforce techno in 5e, 4e and 3e
While announcing the abolition of this hour of technology at the entrance to college, Pap Ndiaye said he wanted to strengthen this subject in 5th, 4th and 3rd.
“Discipline will be reinforced and so I am very clear: neither suppression of technology in college, nor relegation,” said Pap Ndiaye on Wednesday. It is even quite the “opposite”, he assured. According to him, it is necessary to “upgrade” the material in order to “arouse vocations for digital technology, engineering sciences, the professional path, including in the balance between girls and boys”.
