Education: for more diversity at school, the department of Seine-Saint-Denis wishes to merge its academy with that of Paris

To improve diversity at school, Seine-Saint-Denis has made an original proposal. The poorest department in metropolitan France is asking to be merged with the Paris Academy, one of the richest territories. The idea emerges as the Minister of National Education has promised a plan to improve gender diversity in schools for the next few weeks. A plan already delayed several times.

The objective of the elected officials of Seine-Saint-Denis is to better distribute the means. It would be a “administrative big bang”, according to the president of the Departmental Council of Seine-Saint-Denis, Stéphane Troussel, who relies on current projects, such as the Olympic Games or the Grand Paris express, which already link his department to the capital. Joining the Paris Academy would make it possible to pool resources, and to have, for example, more classes with flexible hours, international sections, preparatory classes, or even smaller numbers.

Retain students and attract teachers

This would make the schools of Seine-Saint-Denis more attractive, wants to believe Stéphane Troussel. “We know, for example, that each time there is an international section in an establishment, indicates the president of the Departmental Council of Seine-Saint-Denis, the following year, the social positioning index of the establishment progresses because it is often a determining factor in deciding a family to keep their child in the establishment of the district”. The idea is to avoid the avoidance strategies of families in Seine-Saint-Denis who sometimes turn to the private sector or to establishments in Paris.

According to the elected official, merging with the Paris Academy would also attract teachers. Today there may be four times more aggregated teachers in a college in the capital than in another in Seine-Saint-Denis. The Ministry of National Education replies that there is no consensus at this stage and that this integration is a cumbersome and slow administrative process. But the discussions are continuing, other measures are being studied.