Invited on “Cnews”, the Minister of National Education paved the way for the addition of mathematics in the common core of the Première and Terminale class, so that “all students” have more “mathematical culture “. Teachers are alarmed by the drop in the number of young people taking this subject, especially girls.
Jean-Michel Blanquer said on Sunday that mathematics should “probably” be added to the common core of the Première and Terminale class, so that “all the students” have more “mathematical culture”.
A drop in the number of young people who have taken maths in their program
The Minister of National Education was arrested, on CNews, on the fact that teachers are alarmed by the drop in the number of young people in Première and Terminale taking this subject, especially among girls. Since the high school reform, which put an end to the traditional series (L, ES and S) in 2019, maths has been taught as a specialty, outside of the common core. They are no longer compulsory from Première, and can be followed as a specialty (of which there are three in Première, two in Terminale) or with the “complementary mathematics” option in Terminale.
“I’m not saying it’s a non-issue. It’s a serious subject, and I’m very open to suggestions for improvement,” said Jean-Michel Blanquer. “We put in the common core of Première and Terminale a scientific education of two hours” weekly. “It probably needs to evolve so that there is more mathematics within it, for the mathematical culture of all students,” he added.
Too demanding a program?
He also invited “to compare the mathematics program of (the old) Terminale S and that of today (for a student who has taken the specialty, editor’s note). It is much more demanding, some complain by the way,” he said.