Overview
- In his first interview as education minister, Édouard Geffray named academic performance, social and school inequalities, and pupil health as his three priorities.
- The 2026 draft budget foresees about 4,000 teacher position reductions, which he framed against a projected loss of one million kindergarten and primary pupils between 2018 and 2028, saying strict demographic tracking would mean 8,000–9,000 cuts.
- Primary classes are projected to average 21 pupils at the start of the 2026 school year, which he described as the lowest national average recorded.
- A teacher‑training reform lowers entry to the competitive exams to bac+3 with one year as an élève fonctionnaire then one year as a fonctionnaire stagiaire, backed by more than 8,000 paid trainee civil‑servant posts in the 2026 budget.
- He plans to recruit school psychologists, nurses and social workers, while AESH hires fall to 1,200 in 2026 due to budget and hiring‑pool constraints, and resources will be concentrated on roughly 15% of middle schools that concentrate about 40% of major difficulties.