One year after the publication of the decree regarding its new extended responsibilities in the public service of educational technology, CNED’s evolution continues with the signing of the new contract of objectives and performance (COP) by its two supervising ministers, Nicole Belloubet, Minister of National Education and Youth, and Sylvie Retailleau, Minister of Higher Education and Research. This COP defines the institution’s strategy for the period 2023-2026 and positions it as a central actor in addressing the major training challenges of tomorrow.
Today, CNED is accelerating this transformation to become the reference operator for the pedagogical transition towards a training model characterized by increasing hybridization in the relationship between face-to-face and distance learning, and in pedagogical format (enrichment of the asynchronous model with synchronous sequences through videoconferencing or virtual classrooms, from the standard training model to more individualized pathways and shorter programs, broadcasting platforms with mobile strategy, etc.).
This contract of objectives and performance comes after significant transformations in recent years to meet the evolving needs and uses of learners. These transformations, initiated during the 2010s, were accelerated during the health crisis, during which CNED expanded its activities to ensure pedagogical continuity. On this occasion, more than 20% of families and students and over half of the country’s teachers reported using the « Ma Classe à la Maison » platforms or certain digital tools from CNED during the first COVID-19 lockdown, allowing them to appreciate the benefits of asynchronous distance learning and the pedagogical model promoted by CNED, which enables the adoption of a work pace and an organization of learning adapted to each individual. This new COP will allow CNED to strengthen its role in providing the best of public education and distance learning services to the greatest number, and in support of all successes.
A strategic milestone to develop CNED’s school offering
The new COP aims to further develop CNED’s school offering as a public operator responsible for distance education. In this capacity, CNED is the largest institution in France with 87,000 students enrolled from kindergarten to high school, experiencing a significant increase in the number of enrolled students (+3,000 high school students and +2,000 middle school students at the start of the 2023 school year).
Firstly, the 2023-2026 COP emphasizes the central nature of its historical mission as a substitute school operator to ensure schooling for all populations unable to attend in-person education, where students must adapt to the school rhythm and classroom model. In this regard, CNED will need to adapt its entire educational offering to meet the requirements posed by the « Shock of Knowledge » over the next three years to ensure the compliance of its programs with ongoing regulatory requirements.
This profound transformation is a new step following the introduction of continuous assessment linked to the high school reform and the implementation of monthly attendance monitoring of students required by the 2021 law transforming the framework of homeschooling. It will be an opportunity to introduce new innovative devices in CNED’s pedagogical model and to take into account all types of hindered populations, especially those experiencing significant increases such as students in sports-study programs or those experiencing school phobia. The new COP also identifies the central role of CNED as an actor in the international influence of our school model, facing obstacles that may exist in the French in-person school offering abroad under the French Education Abroad (EFE). CNED’s student population abroad is thus continuously increasing (17,000 students in 2023).
Secondly, the new 2023-2026 COP strengthens CNED’s role as a complementary institution, through the notion of a « Digital Academy ». CNED thus provides in-person establishments with distance learning and support devices in support of in-person schooling, which implies a progressive hybridization of its support model and interaction with the relevant pedagogical teams. In-person schools thus have the opportunity to enrich their school offerings to students, acting as « enhanced establishments » where students can access CNED’s offerings in unavailable subjects (for languages, specialized subjects, etc.).
CNED’s new COP sets the objective of strengthening its support to in-person establishments as a public school platform (not addressed to students enrolled full-time at CNED) based on its educational offering. This strategy relies first on CNED’s à la carte courses covering almost the entire school curriculum from kindergarten to high school. It also includes a digital offering of academic support (English for Schools and Deutsch Für Schulen for primary, Jules for middle school, MaSpéMaths for mathematics in the first year).
Since the 2023 school year, the Digital Academy’s offering has been extended to the National Education’s Short-Term Replacement (RCD) scheme through the generalization of free access for all public middle schools to CNED’s Program’cours platform, which offers pedagogical sequences in French, mathematics, and history-geography-civic education for all four levels of middle school. Nearly 20,000 students have thus been able to benefit from learning hours in the event of absences of less than 15 days of unreplaced teachers since the fall.
This segment of CNED’s activity as a complementary institution is experiencing very strong growth dynamics. In one year, the number of students enrolled in à la carte courses has increased by 14% in high school and 10% in middle school. In total, 42,250 students are enrolled in à la carte courses, now representing nearly half of CNED’s student population.
CNED is already a partner of more than 3,900 establishments, both public and private, that use its services. This represents a quarter of middle schools and more than half of high schools in France with at least one student enrolled in one of CNED’s à la carte courses.
A renewed ambition for lifelong adult education
With 47,000 adult students enrolled, CNED is also a major player in higher education and professional distance learning in asynchronous mode. It supports students completing their higher education through CNED and professionals engaged in career evolution or retraining. In this regard, its offering of preparation for administrative exams must more than ever contribute to the attractiveness of the civil service, both for national education and other administrations.
The 2023-2026 COP will result in further rationalization of the training catalog, focusing on future-oriented lifelong learning, including investing in new and high-demand professional fields, and investing in continuous reengineering of these programs to meet the constantly evolving requirements of standards and training funding models. Thus, the breakdown of CNED titles into competency blocks will better take into account the evolutions of public schemes such as Mon Compte Formation and the new scheme around Recognition of Prior Learning (VAE) implemented by France VAE. CNED will continue to develop its micro-certifications through its digital badges.
CNED will strengthen its contribution to the priorities set by the General Secretariat for Investment (SGPI) under France 2030 and major transitions by launching, starting in the 2024 academic year, a new professional training program in cybersecurity that will ultimately complement the offering of CNED titles registered in the National Directory of Professional Certifications (RNCP) such as S2MS, ASCA, or ASCOM.
CNED will expand its partnerships with ministries and other administrations, building on existing collaborations with the Air Force, Army, National Forestry Office, Bank of France, and the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. To achieve this, CNED aims to increase its participation in tenders launched by public structures in the field of distance professional training (State, local authorities, public institutions, etc.). It will also pursue the same goal of commercial development targeting private enterprises.
CNED, operator of public platforms for major societal challenges
Following the launch of the Climate and Biodiversity Basics (B.A.-BA) in June 2023, the 2023-2026 COP sets the objective of continuing the strategy of public interest platforms on certain major societal challenges, supported by a model of short and asynchronous training for the acquisition of knowledge and skills in service of major transitions, possibly complemented by a micro-certification system in the form of digital badges. CNED is thus committed to developing other initiatives that will be launched by 2025.
As the first public and free online training on environmental issues, the Climate and Biodiversity Basics is the result of collaboration between internationally recognized scientific experts and digital pedagogy specialists. Launched in June 2023, this training has already attracted over 190,000 visitors and issued 35,000 certified badges. A strategic partnership has been formed with ADEME for the development of a model dedicated to the carbon neutrality strategy for 2050. Initial actors have chosen the Climate and Biodiversity Basics to raise awareness or train their audiences, such as the seven Sciences Po schools in the ScPo network, the University of Poitiers, IH2EF, APEC, and the magazine Pif Gadget.
Innovation at the Heart of CNED’s Strategic Priorities
In a context marked by profound and uninterrupted technological advancements, the new 2023-2026 COP reaffirms CNED’s commitment to innovation, already supported by the PIA Digital Academy and the AMI Future Skills and Professions federated around the Cyber Campus. It aims to go even further in innovation, with the goal of developing adaptive asynchronous pathways that align with learners’ needs, leveraging the potential of AI and experiences with various EdTech around essential areas for distance, digital, and asynchronous models: micro-learning, memory anchoring, self-oral training, remote monitoring of test administration, dynamic positioning tests, automated corrections, etc.
2024: A Decisive Year in COP Deployment through Major Milestones
By setting the new strategic framework, the 2023-2026 COP provides a clear roadmap that will enable CNED to embark on a new stage of its evolution to meet the training challenges and fully play its role as an operator in pedagogical transition, leading several major projects that will shape the next three years.
In 2024, CNED will undertake several major initiatives:
In the Educational Domain:
- Initial steps in implementing the « Shock of Knowledge » for its students, involving the progressive redesign of most CNED courses.
- CNED will conduct a new experiment with voluntary establishments for long-term replacements (absences exceeding 3 months) to calibrate a system integrated into existing solutions so that in the future, national education will be better able to meet the needs for pedagogical continuity, based on the assessment of the Program’cours platform deployment and the needs for CNED à la carte courses.
- By June 2024, the 820,000 5th-grade students and 860,000 9th-grade students, along with 10,500 other candidates (apprentices, etc.), will have passed their road safety certificate through the public platform operated by CNED.
- An experimental use of the Climate and Biodiversity Basics platform is ongoing with certain audiences in national education (students, especially eco-delegates, and staff). CNED was designated by the Minister of National Education and Youth in the fall of 2022, as part of the referral to the Higher Council of Programs regarding education on climate change, for the possible implementation of a system for evaluating « green knowledge » of middle school students, following the model of digital skills. The feedback from the Climate and Biodiversity Basics will advance this discussion.
In Higher Education:
- At the request of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, and with its financial support, CNED initiated, in late 2023, with the Council for Training, Student Life, and Professional Integration of France Universities, a series of working groups to define a model for a public platform for remedial education in the 1st year of university as part of the « Oui Si » program established by the ORE law of 2018. Seventeen universities have expressed interest in participating in these working groups. Depending on the results, a first prototype focusing on mathematics will be developed.
In the Context of Public Platform Strategy:
- CNED will expand the commercialization of its Climate and Biodiversity Basics offering to companies or administrations (climat.pro.cned.fr) wishing to train their employees and stakeholders on major environmental issues by developing new strategic partnerships.
- At the request of the Ministry of National Education and Youth, CNED, in collaboration with the General Directorate of School Education, is preparing a training and awareness platform for parent representatives to better identify and prevent bullying. Its launch is scheduled for the second half of 2024.
The 2023-2026 COP of CNED allows us to reinforce our historical mission in favor of hindered student populations while strengthening our role as a Digital Academy, a complementary educational operator serving in-person establishments. CNED’s mission for distance education of adults in career transition or skills enhancement is also strengthened with our new training programs and our public platforms for raising awareness and training on major issues of general interest. Our ambition, as a leader in asynchronous distance education in France, is to contribute to the pedagogical transition of education and training models, through an increasingly necessary hybridization between in-person and distance learning, and between synchronous and asynchronous pedagogy.
Jean-Noël Tronc, CEO of CNED
Consult the 2023-2026 COP of CNED: www.cned.fr/nos-publications
Source: CNED, press release of April 23, 2024
