Academic quality involves multiple criteria

Within the major theme of academic quality, two minor themes that are prominent are criteria tied to quality of teaching and academic reputation. The quality of teaching at the school includes diverse responses such as being able to talk with teachers, using traditional teaching approaches, knowing teachers are experienced, and having teachers regularly present. Though parents do not have much inside information of what occurs in the classroom in the French schooling system, they gain ideas about teaching quality from the schoolwork and grades their children bring home, the homework they are assigned, the comments of children, and from infrequent meetings with teachers. They also learn about it because if the school’s academic reputation is good and if the students and the community are acceptable, then the quality of teaching must be good. Parents believe these aspects of the school are related. As this parent conveys, the link between the character of town and the quality of teaching is not to be ignored.

Mme. Boudet, an airline executive with one child are Legacy, an Adherent That's what I said before, because when you're in this collège, it is very good in general at teaching … it's in a good area that does not have a problem at its base, does not have any real problems, troublemakers, or worries about kids who are not properly watched. We are in this, a privileged environment where all the children speak French, and in general with parents to help them. No differences sociological here … We have chosen a suburb a little privileged precisely so that our child can have good influences, and that you have public education without worry, with good prospects at the end.

The connection between teaching, which this parent rates as “very good,” and the

character of the town, which this parent describes as “privileged,” is not incidental. Who lives in the town is important to the quality of the teaching because having good teachers is not a given in French public schools. Suburban schools generally have working-class and immigrant students who are perceived to be more troublesome and often difficult to teach because their upbringing,

culture, and environment (van Zanten 2003). As a result, they also have the most difficulty in attracting and retaining experienced teachers, usually having newer, inexperienced teachers (Viguier 2006). Through the promotion system, teachers gravitate as they can to schools perceived as having better students, which usually are in privileged towns. Parents know that schools in privileged places escape most problems of teaching quality. This is the case at Legacy. As this parent notes, it is the students who make for the teachers.

M. Silvestre, a business professional with a child at Legacy, an Avoider. Well, first of all, the quality of education is a paradox in France. Since all

education should be egalitarian everywhere, but we know, we notice that the best teachers are not always in the right places, and one can speak also of the amount of effort that goes into teaching. The quality of the teachers is essentially tied to quality, high socio-professional students and then to the quality of life of the sector. In France, that’s what lets one be in conditions conducive to an education.

This parent draws a direct link between students and teachers, not because good teachers attract good students, but because good students attract good teachers. Parents also cite other criteria related to academic quality categorized under the minor themes of academic reputation, types of programs, and other strengths. For one parent at Legacy, the academic quality of the public school brought her to remove her child from a private school and put her in a public school when she moved to Riviereville to leave a nearby, highly mixed community.

Mme. Bartillon, a business manager with one child at Legacy, an Avoider

The important criteria for me is the level of the students, and I heard that the level is good, the collège is leading in results. It's very, very important. It's true that I heard how the collège was organized, the fact that they are paying attention to children, the kids who are late, and that parents monitor what is done … It's huge. My kids now walk to school because we live right next to the collège, but it is

really the results and performance [that counts].

Notably, one criterion that the parent cites, that her children can walk to school, is part of school context as location. Felouzis et al. (2005) contend that the primary criterion for parents is the proximity of the school. Though that appears among these parents, only some parents volunteer it, perhaps because the closeness of the school is simply a given because no selection has taken place. Academic programs are another criterion that are important for parents. For this Appraiser, what made palatable the sudden move of his son because of his child’s debilitating illness to the school where he teaches is the school’s language program.

M. Fresnel, a teacher with one child at Haven, an Appraiser

It was for family reasons [the move was made]. That is to say, to take care of my son. Then, there was the possibility of having this option of languages from the sixth grade. So, from the start of collège to be able to do foreign languages, uh, foreign languages, from the start, especially English. Yes, it's important, but he is equally able to do German. I think it makes sense to do German in a European context, since German is our first political partner, the first economic partner. It seems important to me that the children do at least as much as with English.

Other than types of programs, academic reputation is also important. One indicator of academic reputation for parents is the average passage rates on the brevet, the test that students take at the end of middle school. For others, however, the indicators of quality are more general, referred to less specifically as the “level of schooling” or “level of success.”