Is the academic level of French pupils plunging from the very early years of school? It is a notion regularly put forward, especially when discussing difficulties in reading, in French, or in mathematics.
Yet, the latest national assessments sketch a reality that is much more nuanced.
In 2025, sixth-year students achieve better results than in 2017 in both French and mathematics. In French, the share of pupils belonging to the lowest-performing groups has even dropped from 31.7% to 28% over eight years.
But this improvement does not necessarily continue through schooling. At the middle school level, some indicators deteriorate. And in the second year of high school, the decline becomes particularly evident in French.
The real disengagement may therefore not be where one might imagine.
To sum up
- In sixth year, the 2025 results remain higher than those in 2017 in French and in mathematics.
- In the eighth grade, French performance worsens, while in the second year of high school the decline is much more pronounced.
- Educational gaps remain strongly tied to social origin and to the profile of the schools.
- France is projected to count 1.68 million fewer pupils by 2035.
In sixth year, pupils are not worse off than ten years ago
If the overall level had collapsed steadily since the start of primary school, such a decline would logically be visible as soon as pupils enter middle school.
But the national evaluations tell a different story.
In 2025, the performance of sixth-year pupils remains higher than observed in 2017, both in French and in mathematics.
In French, the proportion of pupils in the lowest-performing groups has moved from 31.7% in 2017 to 28% in 2025.
Of course, this does not mean that everything is fine. A portion of pupils still enters middle school with significant difficulties.
Thus, 15.1% of sixth-year pupils fail to read at 90 words per minute accurately. This skill corresponds to a level expected at the end of primary school.
But this figure must be interpreted alongside the other data: the difficulties are real, without necessarily showing a uniform collapse of the level since the CP.
In other words, the problem seems less to be a continuous fall than difficulties that accumulate for a portion of pupils during their schooling.
And it is precisely as pupils move through the years that the figures become more troubling.
It is then that the difficulties become more visible
In the eighth grade, national assessments notably show a deterioration in French performance compared with 2023. The share of pupils in the lowest-performing groups also increases.
In mathematics, the situation is different, which reminds us that the entire education system cannot be summarized by a single downward trend.
But in the second year of high school, the decline in French appears much more clearly.
Between 2021 and 2025, the average score of pupils in general and technological second year dropped from 260 to 251 points. At the same time, the proportion of pupils in the least performing group rose from 12.4% to 20.2%.
Why do these difficulties become more visible at this point?
Part of the explanation lies in the increasing complexity of learning. In middle and high school, pupils must understand more complex texts, mobilize more knowledge and work with greater autonomy.
A fragility that remained relatively inconspicuous in primary school can then become far more penalizing.
The Brevet also sheds light on this. In 2025, 85.5% of candidates obtained the national Brevet diploma, a rate that is almost stable.
These figures are not contradictory: the Brevet and national assessments do not measure the same skills, nor under the same conditions.
They mainly show that there is no single indicator capable of summarizing the French level.
Social inequalities widen the gaps
There is another reason why national averages must be interpreted with caution: not all pupils follow the same trajectory.
DEPP evaluations show significant gaps according to the social origin of pupils and the profile of their schools.
The Brevet provides a particularly clear illustration.
In 2025, the gap in success between pupils from the most socially advantaged middle schools and those from the most disadvantaged schools reaches 21.6 points in the general stream.
Behind the national average lie very different realities.
Two pupils of the same age can arrive in sixth year with very different prior knowledge and not have the same learning conditions. These gaps can then widen when school demands increase.
That is why talking simply of an “overall collapse in level” is misleading.
The French system rather shows difficulties concentrated among some pupils, with disparities that remain strongly linked to social background and the characteristics of the schools.
The real challenge is not only to raise a national average. It is also to prevent a portion of pupils from gradually falling behind.
The French school will have to manage another upheaval
Alongside the question of the level of schooling, a major demographic transformation now adds to the challenge.
France has fewer and fewer children.
For the 2026 intake, the Ministry of National Education forecasts 11.61 million pupils, or about 161,000 fewer than the previous year.
And the decline is expected to continue.
According to official projections, the school system could count 1.68 million fewer pupils by 2035, a decrease of 14.2% in both the public sector and the private under contract.
This evolution will profoundly alter the French school system.
In some areas, having fewer pupils could allow reducing class sizes. But the demographic decline will not be uniform: some establishments will continue to concentrate difficulties while others will see their enrollments fall sharply.
This situation could therefore present an opportunity to improve teaching conditions, provided that the reduction in pupil numbers is accompanied by a reflection on how to distribute resources.
Because fewer pupils does not automatically mean fewer difficulties.
The disengagement may not begin where we think
The available data do not allow identifying a precise year or class as the moment when “everything breaks.”
They reveal something subtler.
In sixth year, results remain better than in 2017 on several indicators. This does not fit the scenario of a widespread collapse starting in CP.
But as schooling progresses, certain fragilities become more visible. The French results decline in the eighth grade and even more in the second year of high school.
Thus, the problem seems less one of a sudden fall than a progressive accumulation of difficulties for some pupils.
The essential question is not only whether the school level is falling.
It is to understand when pupils begin to disengage, why some manage to keep up while others accumulate gaps, and how to support them before the gap becomes too large.
Because the numbers tell a story very different from that of a school system that would collapse uniformly from CP: the level does not follow a single trajectory, and it is precisely in collège and lycée that the fractures become most visible.
