Primary school in Morocco: a model to follow for France?

Despite still modest results for international assessments such as PISA. Moreover, Morocco has been involving an ambitious transformation of its education system for several years. Meanwhile, Launched in 2023, the “Pioneer Schools” program already produces noticed effects. Nevertheless, Can it inspire France?

The Moroccan school system traditionally ranks among the latter in international comparisons, like countries with comparable standard of living. However, Morocco has long been involved in a dynamic of reform, aimed at improving the quality of its education permanently. Moreover, After a ten-year first level (1999-2009) with limited results, the “Najah” emergency plan reduced illiteracy by 43.2% in 2004 to 29% in 2017.

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In this perspective, the 2022-2026 roadmap has launched the “pioneer schools”, a device deployed since September 2023 and now covering 7 % of primary schools, primary school morocco: model follow or around 322,000 students. Similarly, This program is based on the recommendations of the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel. Nevertheless, Committee of experts co -chaired by the economist Abhijit Banerjee (MIT), Nobel Prize in economics, which analyzes the most efficient and efficient educational interventions in the scientific literature in low or intermediate income countries. Furthermore, Two pillars structure the Moroccan approach: on the one hand. Similarly, the “Teaching at the right level” approach (Tarl), consisting in organizing groups of students according to their real learning level rather than age; On the other hand, the provision of structured educational sequences, supplemented by an initial 120 -hour training in Tarl methods and a remote weekly support.

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An application on tablet allows, every two weeks, to assess the achievements and to adjust the groups accordingly; These data, aggregated, is transmitted in almost real time to the rectorate for reactive management of primary school morocco: model follow each school.

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The measurement of the impact of the system is ensured by an independent assessment led by the J-PAL (Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab), MIT-based research center, specializing in the scientific assessment of public policies to combat poverty and founded in 2003 in particular by Esther Duflo, another Nobel Prize in economics. For example, The evaluation also combines several Moroccan and American universities, as well as a committee of independent researchers.

After only one year, the experimental analyzes of J-PAL highlight an average gain of +1.3 standard deviation in written understanding and +0.93 in mathematics, results unanimously qualified as exceptional for a reform deployed at the national scale, without major additional resources.

These results, although spectacular, comply with observations on the Tarl educational paradigm: explicit or direct instruction teaching. Moreover, He advocates a teacher -centered pedagogy. Therefore, with a demonstration phase by the teacher primary school morocco: model follow and then a guided practice and finally independent exercises.

More concretely, the lesson revolves around three phases: “I do”, “we do”, “you do”. For example. the teacher begins by reading a problem in mathematics and exhibits aloud, step by step, operations that lead to the solution. Then comes a guided practice: under the supervision of the teacher. the students solve an similar exercise by reproducing the approach presented, often on slate. The rest of the session is then devoted to exercises in increasing autonomy and the production of a summary[1]. This educational course. applied in Morocco, constitutes a local adaptation of the Tarl compared to what was initially deployed in India[2]. Let us recall that the Tarl also involves the grouping of students according to their level in the concepts addressed on all. part of the previously written course, which Morocco also applies in “Pioneer Schools”[3].

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This educational primary school morocco: model follow model of explicit teaching is known, since the 1970s as the most effective, especially for students in difficulty, which at the time had measured the Follow Through Project, the biggest study still conducted to date in the field of Education Sciences. Since then, scientific experiences have regularly highlighted the relevance of this educational paradigm[4]. Note that one of the key experts in the “pioneer schools” program in Morocco. Steve Bissonnette, is one of the most famous French -speaking researchers on explicit education.

The contrast with the French situation deserves reflection. The attempt to introduce explicit education under Jean-Michel Blanquer (2017-2020) came up against the lack of turnkey resources. the absence of an external scientific committee. Our country also suffers from a lack of culture of systematic evaluation. France struggling to document the real impact of the quality of its teaching. France also remains little inclined to integrate the contributions primary school morocco: model follow of scientific research in education in its practices. This is one thing. however far from being out of reach: the United Kingdom, thanks to the Endowment Foundation Education and the OFSTED, very regularly assesses the effectiveness of the action of its school and sees its scores progress in international surveys like Pirls (reading) and Timss (mathematics and sciences).

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It is likely that the absence of a systematic culture of experimentation and evaluation significantly contributes to the difficulties of our education system, which struggles to emerge a strategy based on the evaluation of the efficiency of public policies. This deficiency is part of a context of very strong inertia because the conviction that an educational policy takes. time to bear fruit seems to be consensus in France while Morocco is a formidable counterexample. The latter tends to show that a device focused on effective teaching practices. the evaluation of public primary school morocco: model follow policies can lead to rapid results. Other countries have experienced spectacular increases in Pisa such as Estonia, the United Kingdom, Ireland or Poland.

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The Moroccan experience of “pioneer schools” also shows that a system based on the regular measurement of achievements and the dissemination of proven teaching practices can generate, in just a few months, significant learning progress. If Morocco confirms these results during the next international assessments. its model or at least the approach which underlies it could impose itself as a reference.

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Until now, high -performance countries like Estonia or Singapore have rarely inspired our education system, often for lack of consensus on policies to be reproduced. With Morocco. the observation is more obvious: his example recalls that a school conceived as a continuous experimental ground, like clinical medicine, offers a solid path to overcome ideological debates and establish educational policy on concrete evidence.

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At primary school morocco: model follow least, this approach invites France to place the rigorous evaluation and the sharing of effective practices at the heart of the initial and continuous training of teachers, without calling into question the educational freedom. In addition. the rise of artificial intelligence and the need to better document the achievements reinforce the interest of tools like those developed in Morocco: turnkey educational sequences to support teachers, standardized evaluation, data management. Several countries that have proven themselves in Pisa, such as Singapore or Estonia, also follow a similar logic.

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In short, the success of “pioneer schools” invites us to rethink educational innovation not as an almost organic exception, but as a scientific method: systematic, measurable, and shareable.