Equality, quality and confidence among the challenges of the French Educational Reform: the Loi n° 2019-791 du 26 juillet 2019 pour une école de la confiance

Abstract

With both the promulgation and enactment of the Loi nº 2019-791 du 26 juillet 2019 pour une école de la confiance, a new period of normative changes has begun in France. These changes concern the organisation, structure and even certain principles the French educational system has been erected with. In the name of confidence some measures have been purposed, some of them of great magnitude, with the main purpose of guaranteeing equal opportunities for the student body of this country. In order to do that, there have been expounded, among others, initiatives focused on the extension of school attendance, diversity outreach, teacher training, institutional innovations by creating new organisms and evaluation measurements in support of educational quality. From an international and comparative perspective, the analysis of this act generates great interest, on the one hand, because of the contents it tackles and, on the other hand, because of the role France has played as a laboratory and enterprising country in educational issues throughout history. This circumstance turns it into referent of other countries in southern Europe, Africa and even Asia, which influence in their educational systems is indubitable.

Without losing sight of the magnitude of this reform and its relevance, this brief analysis recognises its significance and the remarkable impact that is generating, both inside and outside of the country. Probably, from now on, there will not be just a few papers that highlight the scope of its proposals and its possible consequences.