IPP Policy Brief n°17
January 2015
Authors : Asma Benhenda and Julien Grenet
Contacts: asma.benhenda@ipp.eu, julien.grenet@ipp.eu
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How much does grade repetition in French primary and secondary schools cost?
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Summary :
While it has been in constant decline in the past twenty years, grade repetition in French schools is still a widespread practice, involving 270,000 school students every year in primary and secondary years. At the age of 15, 28 per cent of students have repeated a school grade at least once in the course of their education (compared with an average of 12 per cent in the OECD). Grade repetition is regularly criticised as a means of preventing academic failure, charged with being not only ineffective but also very expensive.
This IPP Note contributes to the debate by proposing an assessment of the budgetary cost of grade repetition in French schools, through simulation of the effects of its suppression on education costs. Using an analysis of the trajectories of students born in 1992, the Note shows that on average, a repeated grade delays by one year the exit from school while at the same time changing the nature of the studies pursued. The annual cost of repeated grades (not counting diploma classes) is estimated at around 2 billion euros. However, if grade repetition were abolished starting from the beginning of the 2015 school year, the total sums saved would be realised only from 2027 onwards. The results indicate that the education resources that would be freed up by abolishing grade repetition are potentially significant but could only be gradually distributed towards alternative policies
Related publication
- IPP Report n°7, january 2015: “The Cost of Grade Retention: An Evaluation“
- Slides (in French), Wednesday 28th January: Présentation de l’étude à la conférence de consensus « Lutter contre les difficultés scolaires : le redoublement et ses alternatives ? », organisée par le Cnesco et l’Ifé/ENS de Lyon
Press articles
- BFM business, “Ce que l’Etat peut économiser en supprimant le redoublement” par Julien Marion – 30 septembre 2015
- Le Monde, “Redoublement: les alternatives s’organisent” par Aurélie Colas – 27 janvier 2015
- Le Figaro, “Le redoublement coûte deux milliards d’euros par an” par Marie-Estelle Pech – 27 janvier 2015
- Le Café pédagogique, “Redoublement : Ça coûte combien ?” par François Jarraud – 27 janvier 2015
- 20 minutes (avec l’AFP), “Redoublement: la France en quête d’alternatives pour lutter contre les difficultés scolaires” – 27 janvier 2015
- Le Monde, “Le redoublement coûte deux milliards d’euros par an à l’Etat” par Aurélie Colas – 28 janvier 2015
- Le Café pédagogique, “Comment utiliser l’argent de la suppression du redoublement ?” par François Jarraud – 29 janvier 2015
- Le Figaro, “Les rares et difficiles alternatives au redoublement” par Marie-Estelle Pech – 29 janvier 2015
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