School, Gabriel Attal
Ability groups, organisation of lower secondary school: Generalise ability groups in French and maths at lower secondary school
Direction of change: increase, compared with current law.
The lever. Organisation of classes in lower secondary school: ability or needs-based groups, mixed-ability classes, repeating a year, brevet. Direction rule: ↑ more ability groups or streamed classes.
Words reported by Site de campagne, compte rendu de l'entretien au Monde: Il veut parallèlement généraliser les groupes de niveau en français et en mathématiques, tout en laissant davantage de souplesse aux établissements dans leur organisation.1
Translation by the editorsAt the same time, he wants to generalise ability groups in French and mathematics, while leaving schools more flexibility in their organisation.
Words of Gabriel Attal reported by Site de campagne, compte rendu de l'entretien au Monde, 25 August 2026. Position taken from public statements, not from a written programme.
Encoding
Position linked to an option of the cost schedule, with no parameter to set: see the costing.
Costing
Announced by the candidate
not announced
The cited source does not cost this measure.
Published costings
none
No external costing of this position recorded to date.
Our calculation
−€0.1bn
per year for the public accounts, new spending, range −€0.2bn to €0bn.
The calculation
- Extension of ability groups in French and mathematics to 4e and 3e, with the same number of posts as in 6e and 5e (2,800), minus the 340 already assigned to these levels; zero with constant resources (lower bound): Option costed by the source: a cost of €0.11bn (0 to 0.18) per year.
Assumption by the editors. Reading adopted: ability groups exist in 6e and 5e; « généraliser » [“generalising”] them extends them to 4e and 3e, with the same number of posts (2,800, minus the 340 already assigned to these levels), about €0.11bn. The « souplesse » [“flexibility”] left to schools may also mean an extension with constant resources: zero cost, lower bound.
Coefficient calculated by the editors from Sénat, rapport spécial PLF 2026, Enseignement scolaire: the position is marked as an assumption by the editors.
Current law, sources and limits of the cost schedule
Current law. « Choc des savoirs » reform: ability groups in French and mathematics in the first two years of lower secondary school (6e and 5e) since the start of the 2024 school year. Their extension to 4e and 3e was made optional by the minister E. Borne. The scheme drew on 2,800 dedicated posts in 2024-2025.
Horizon. full year 2032, €bn/year
Limits. Calculation: 2,800 FTE × €48,336 (cost excluding CAS for primary, used for lack of a checked secondary cost; secondary costs more, hence the high value). Extension to 4e and 3e (the last two years of lower secondary school) is a simple extrapolation (same number of classes), without official costing. An abolition “gains” only if the posts are returned to the budget, and not redeployed to reducing class sizes. Secondary cost since checked: €51,198 loaded excluding CAS on average (PAP 2024), i.e. 2,800 FTE × €51,198 ≈ €0.14bn. “Net” convention (R9): at the centre and as lower bound, this cost brought back to pay for active service (51,198 / 1.157 ≈ €44,250, i.e. €0.12bn; 48,336 / 1.145 also gives 0.12); as upper bound, full employer cost with the CAS Pensions (editors' calculation). No official costing of extending the groups to 4e and 3e was found (in 2024-2025, 340 FTE were used there for support, not for groups). Option extension-4e-3e (rule on public bases, 18 October 2026): (2,800 − 340) = 2,460 FTE × €44,250 (secondary cost brought back to pay for active service) ≈ €0.11bn at the centre; 2,460 × €71,400 (full employer cost, CAS Pensions included, that of the upper bound for abolition: €0.2bn / 2,800) ≈ €0.18bn as upper bound; 0 as lower bound if the extension is carried out with constant resources, within the schools' hours (editors' calculations).
- Sénat, rapport spécial PLF 2026, Enseignement scolaire, 2025-11: « dans le second degré, la politique de choc des savoirs a nécessité en 2024 et 2025 l'utilisation de 2 800 emplois dédiés pour créer les « groupes de besoin » dans les classes de sixième et de cinquième ... la ministre ... a décidé de ne pas rendre obligatoire l'extension du dispositif aux classes de quatrième et troisième »
- Sénat, avis culture PLF 2026, 2025-11: « 340 ETP ont permis de renforcer l'accompagnement des élèves de 4ème et de 3e dans la continuité de la mise en place des groupes de besoins en 6ème et 5ème »
- PAP 2024, mission Enseignement scolaire, coûts entrée-sortie (copie de l'Assemblée nationale), 2023-10: « COÛTS ENTRÉE-SORTIE Coût moyen chargé HCAS ; Enseignants du 2nd degré 39 318 51 198 62 207 »
How to read these amounts. These are static costs and revenues, with no feedback effect, over a full year: nothing on growth, employment or the revenue that economic activity would gain or lose. A higher net cost does not on its own make a worse policy, nor net savings a better one: each programme rests on an economic model (demand-led stimulus, lower compulsory levies, consolidation of the public accounts…) that the cost schedule does not settle. GDP itself measures a volume of activity, not well-being or the usefulness of what is produced. Economic models and feedback effects.
- Site de campagne, compte rendu de l'entretien au Monde, 25 August 2026. Words of Gabriel Attal reported by this outlet: the text quoted is the article’s, not their exact words. Position taken from public statements, not from a written programme. Read the source (Site de campagne, compte rendu de l'entretien au Monde).
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