Education: Reform of the lower secondary level (S1, S2, S3)

This reform aims to make the lower secondary level a key stage in order to:

• consolidate fundamental learning;
• support every pupil facing difficulties;
• awaken orientation and career discovery;
• strengthen digital literacy;
• adapt teaching careers to these developments.

A preliminary draft decree on the 1st year of secondary school will be presented to the Government in December 2025, followed by the one on the 2nd and 3rd years in March 2026.

1. Objectives of the reform

• Ensure continuity between primary and secondary education to avoid learning disruptions.
• Adapt the reform to the pedagogical and technological realities of 2025 (digital, AI, etc.), more than 10 years after the Pact.
• Take into account all pupils, including those who already have a clear training project, and allow them to already delve into it without confining them to a linear path.
• Strengthen personalised support, particularly for pupils without a CEB certificate.
• Give meaning to orientation from the 1st year onwards, so that every young person can build a well-considered project.
• Limit job losses linked to the disappearance of the first differentiated level, by reallocating resources to personalised support, as well as those planned by the Pact in vocational education (a reminder: 1,400 FTE, with the disappearance of vocational courses in the 3rd year of secondary school).

2. Principles

Link between the end of primary school and the start of secondary school: continuity, not a break

• Better cooperation between primary and secondary school teachers, through a simplified DACCE (pupil support file).
• Reinforced support for pupils without a CEB certificate from the 1st year, with personalised guidance.
• Harmonisation of assessment practices, for greater consistency between levels, always with this goal of continuity.

In practice, pupils without a CEB certificate will be able to enter the 1st year of secondary school (upon decision of the school panel) with reinforced support, or remain in the 6th year of primary school with personalised support (budget planned: +100 FTE, i.e. €1.8 million).

a. First year of secondary school: Kick-starting orientation

• Consolidation of primary school learning, introduction of new subjects and the start of the orientation journey.
• Unchanged timetable grid, but reorganisation of the 3 periods of HTVT (Manual, Technical and Technological Education):
  • 1 period “Technology” (HTVT),
  • 2 periods “Digital” (D), including for example artificial intelligence and the development of digital literacy, with adapted syllabuses: priority given to digital skills and critical thinking in the face of AI and the changes of the world over the past 10 years.
• Possibility of grouping periods under the P45-P90 system (lessons in blocks of 45 or 90 minutes), allowing better management of school time.
• Two discovery days during the “white days”, the first steps in the orientation journey.

Reinforced support:

• Integrated into the timetable, according to needs: remediation, consolidation, extension.
• In the 1st year of secondary school, pupils without a CEB certificate benefit from specific follow-up.

Gradual phasing out of the 1st differentiated level:

• Planned by the stakeholders of the Pact.
• 2026-2027 school year: only the 2nd differentiated year is maintained.
• 2027-2028 school year: complete phasing out of the system, with resources reinvested in reinforced support.

At the end of the 1st year of secondary school:

• All pupils sit the same tests.
• Pupils without a CEB certificate who pass the 1st year are deemed to hold the CEB (“whoever can do more, can do less”).

b. Second year of secondary school: Refining one's project

• Focus on concrete orientation:
• 8 half-days per year (32 periods) of concrete activities (internships, company visits, workshops).
• 2 orientation days during the “white days”.

Aim: to help young people get to know themselves better and identify their interests.

What changes in the timetable:

• +1 period of mathematics (5 instead of 4);
• +1 period of foreign language (4 instead of 3);
• A second foreign language is possible in the 3rd year of secondary school, as is currently the case;
• 2 periods of Digital, now also including media education, responsible use of digital tools, etc.

c. Third year of secondary school: Choosing and experiencing

• Orientation becomes certifying and structured:
• 8 periods of options, divided into 2 modules of 4 periods.
• Three possible pathways:
  • Transition: deepening general knowledge (e.g. sciences, languages);
  • Vocational: discovering trades and technical skills (e.g. electricity, carpentry);
  • Versatile: combining both (mixed: 4 + 4 periods).
• Schools must offer at least two pathways, possibly through partnerships between institutions.

At the end of the 3rd year of secondary school:

• 3-day internship in a chosen field.
• Oral defence of the orientation project before a panel.
• The 8 periods of orientation are taken into account in the CESI certificate (lower secondary education certificate).
• The class council takes into account the 3 results.

Important principle: Whatever options are chosen in the 3rd year of secondary school, the pupil retains th