I cannot accept that a student, depending on the school they attend, has a 50/50 chance or a 100% chance of obtaining the national diploma,” declared Édouard Geffray on December 18, 2025, on France 2. He wants to support schools experiencing “very significant academic difficulties” from both a pedagogical and social perspective. To “take a comprehensive approach,” he announced a reallocation” of resources thanks to reduced student numbers, planned for the start of the 2026 school year. A directive published in the Official Bulletin details the timeline, procedures, and monitoring.
Upon his arrival at rue de Grenelle, Édouard Geffray announced that he wanted to make serious learning difficulties one of his “priorities” (read on AEF info), before indicating to the National Assembly his wish to “draw up a typical profile of these establishments to see which levers to act on” (read on AEF info).
On France 2 on December 18, the minister recalled that he is targeting colleges concentrating “a very high academic difficulty”, that is to say, the 15% of establishments “where more than 40% of students have less than 8 out of 20 in French, in mathematics, in the brevet”.
The former DGESCOO wants to “start with the teams” who “know their job and who can be trusted”: “we will meet all their training needs,” he specifies, to “improve teaching practices.”
Adopting a 360-degree vision to achieve quality
Beyond educational support, it includes social support: “You have students who are sometimes in great social difficulty, who cannot eat in the canteen. If you have an empty stomach, it is difficult to learn. We will therefore put in place social funds so that all students can eat at lunchtime.”
The aim is to “start from scratch,” through a “redeployment” of resources made possible by staff reductions, even though the primary focus is on pedagogy and the quality of training: “We are going to provide high-quality, tailored programs, school by school,” the minister concluded. Between January and June 2026, the schools concerned will be able to prepare their roadmaps for implementation at the start of the 2026 school year.
A three-year action plan with objectives and indicators
An instruction in the Official Bulletin specifies “the nature of the support for the 800 colleges, its timing, its implementation and monitoring methods” from the start of the 2026 academic year. The rectors must “put in place, with a multidisciplinary team and at the level of each establishment, a multi-year action plan to allow the general raising of the level of all students”.
The approach must be “local and collaborative”. The multi-year roadmap begins with “identifying needs at the school level”. Starting in January 2026, the head of the school, along with their team, will conduct a diagnostic assessment based on specific indicators (Archipel data, CEE report, etc.).
This roadmap will specify the three-year objectives, the “milestones to achieve them”, and the indicators to monitor progress.
Collegiality and consistency of action
For “enhanced support”, the rector sets up an academic resource team with complementary expertise (IA-IPR, IEN, CPC, management staff, CPE, psyEN…).
Four “structuring principles” must be respected:
- collegiality,
- The consistency of the action taken, the continuum of inter-level relations and cooperation with schools, high schools, and local authorities the involvement of families.
Training, educationalorganizationon and school climate
Team training: Colleges receive pedagogical support to identify their training needs before the end of the 2025-2026 school year. The multi-year training courses begin in the first semester of 2026.
Educational organization: Examples of levers that can be used:
- a targeted skills development plan,
- working with a reduced staff,
- occasional or ongoing co-intervention for students with difficulties,
- strengthening of personalized support, “Homework done”, and success courses.
School climate and health: Social funds are used to meet students’ needs, particularly for the school cafeteria. School principals and academic authorities cooperate with local communities to organize school and extracurricular activities.
The rector, guarantor of the organization, a nd the monitoring
The head of the institution “ensures the implementation and monitoring of actions” with the assigned inspector or a member of the resource team. The rector is “responsible for organizing support and monitoring.” The academic council coordinates educational monitoring and analyzes the impact over three years.
The IA-Dasen (Inspectors of Academic Affairs – Directors of Academic Services) monitor the progress of the action plan, and steering committees can be established to provide local support. The DGESCO (Directorate General for School Education) oversees national policy and organizes training for school principals and support teams. A general inspectorate supports the regional education authorities and conducts training activities.
The calendar
In the first half of 2026, two days of routine maintenance can be allocated at the discretion of the user.
First quarter: identification of resource teams, adaptation of national training, needs assessment.
Second quarter definition of strategic directions, collection of training needs, nd identification of levers (local support, academic training).
