Conseil de Classe (pt. 1)

Yesterday evening I went to a “conseil de classe” at the middle school. It’s a meeting that takes place at the end of each trimester, in both the high school and middle school, and is a central part of the French education system.

Eight teachers, two parents, two students, a guidance counselor, and an administrator met for roughly an hour and a half to discuss the grades, classroom behavior, progress, and overall state of each student in a group of 28. Like the “clusters” I had in middle school, the school separates students into multiple groups within each grade.

Ideally, the teachers include each educator that the group of students has. The two students are elected representatives who take notes and serve as liaisons between their peers and the “conseil de classe.” Parent representatives serve the same role, talking with other parents, and come as volunteers.

Because teachers had already submitted grades for the trimester, the principal used a laptop and projector to show each student’s results. The representation of grades via bar graph allowed him to compare the grades to the class average and the student’s results from the previous trimester.