Nicole Noilhetas: ensuring an inclusive and ambitious school system

Nicole Noilhetas arrives in Saint Martin with a wealth of experience gained in various roles within the French Ministry of Education and three years spent in New Caledonia. But her appointment is no coincidence; she had already familiarised herself with the territory even before applying for the post. She has therefore made this choice with a clear commitment to reducing inequalities and providing the best possible support for pupils in Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy. This is a task she intends to carry out in partnership with the local authorities and central government, as well as with social and professional organisations and associations – not to mention parents – because, as she points out, this is a matter of ‘co-education’.
To achieve this, she will focus on three main areas: firstly, to ‘ensure the safety’ of schools and young people’s educational pathways, stabilise teaching staff and ensure continuity in educational pathways and public services; secondly, to ‘organise’ by embedding initiatives within a coherent plan; and finally, to ‘anticipate’ by implementing a strategic approach spanning several years.
All of this will be carried out in close collaboration with the Guadeloupe Education Authority, whose teams will have a greater presence on the Northern Islands, in particular to support teaching staff in both territories with their training. She also plans to establish a branch of the Education Services in Saint-Barthélemy.

Priorities for the start of the new school year

In order to better support pupils according to their needs, the Vice-Rector will base her approach – for the first time – on an analysis of the results from the most recent assessments and examinations. Whilst mathematics and French remain the priorities in education, they will be accompanied by new requirements: to foster mental and intellectual independence in young people. Put simply, the aim is to teach them to reason and analyse for themselves, rather than through the lens of social media. New curricula were already developed last year in certain classes; this year, it will be the turn of Year 3, Year 6 and Year 7 pupils to learn from them. But this will begin much earlier, from the ‘petite section’ (nursery) onwards, with an introduction to mathematics and language comprehension – and on this point there is one essential requirement: to allow pupils to express themselves in their mother tongue so as not to hinder their development. These new teaching practices will require teacher training.

The continuation of bilingual classes

There is no debate on this issue: the four bilingual classes in Year 1 and the eight bilingual classes in the other year groups will be maintained. Multilingualism is ‘a real strength’ for Nicole Noilhetas, who wants languages to be the guiding principle throughout pupils’ schooling. With only 12 per cent of pupils in bilingual classes, she believes it is necessary to develop other initiatives for all pupils, such as teaching subjects through the integration of a foreign language (EMILE). She also intends to launch a review of the continuity of the educational pathway to ensure this bilingual education continues into secondary education, whilst recognising that this will take time. Projects such as ERASMUS, UNESCO’s ‘Citizens of the World’ programme, and the development of regional cooperation – naturally with Sint Maarten, but also with Anguilla and St Kitts – should therefore be made more effective.

Short- and medium-term projects

Career guidance, particularly within vocational streams, is an area the Vice-Principal also wishes to address, based on the observation that many pupils lack clear career plans and have little understanding of different professions. A multi-year careers guidance programme will be introduced from Year 6 onwards, and an introduction to different careers will be included in Year 7. The aim is to reduce the drop-out rate after Year 9. Dropout rates will, in fact, be her third priority, particularly for 16- to 18-year-olds who leave the education system without any qualifications, training or employment. For Nicole Noilhetas, this is an urgent issue that needs to be tackled by identifying at-risk young people as early as primary school. To this end, she wishes to draw on the support of local organisations, including the Mission Locale – with whom a meeting has already been scheduled – by developing the ‘educational holidays’ scheme or offering training programmes tailored to the region’s economic needs.

“School is a sacred place”

“We must enjoy being there and learning. This is everyone’s responsibility, including parents,” insists Nicole Noilhetas. Empathy, community spirit and building self-esteem must take precedence over bullying and physical or verbal abuse. “We need to put in place plans to combat all forms of discrimination and violence.” Measures are already in place in schools; they must be effective. But it is also the synergy between all these measures – including early identification, support, and attention to the well-being and health (including mental health) of pupils and teachers – that will help reduce inequalities and prevent pupils from dropping out of school. All that remains is to organise these measures, a task the Vice-Rector has promised to tackle immediately.