– Friday, January 6, 2022
Yannick Trigance, National Secretary for Schools, Education and Access to Knowledge
The year 2023, for teachers, is certainly not starting under the best auspices at the end of the interview given by the Minister of National Education Pap N’Diaye on a major media on January 4 in the morning.
After having “advised” the trade unions not to mobilize against the pension reform – the unions will appreciate – as long as the Prime Minister has not made her announcements, the minister has tried somehow – rather badly than well – to make proposals to remedy the difficulties of our School which still today, despite the unfailing commitment of the educational teams, fails to guarantee the success of all students.
By announcing an increase in the recruitment rate of contract workers from 0.5% to 1.5% in primary education and from 6.5% to 8% in secondary education, Pap N’Diaye is trying to remedy the lack of some 4,000 teachers. at the start of the 2023 school year. He thus acknowledges the failure of the first Macron / Blanquer five-year term, which failed to restore the attractiveness of the teaching profession.
And for good reason ! These recruitment difficulties, as we know, are largely linked to the level of teacher remuneration. But the government never wanted to open this site. Remember, however, that the claim is legitimate: on average, French teachers receive a salary 10% lower than that of their colleagues in the 38 OECD countries. Similarly, if in 1980 a certified teacher at the start of his career received the equivalent of 2.2 SMIC, it is only 1.2 SMIC today. The fall is vertiginous, while the working time of teachers in France has increased to 900 hours per year against 700 hours per year on average in OECD countries. The “work more to earn less” is taking hold…
In addition, candidate Macron’s promise to increase all teachers unconditionally by 10% in 2023 – a promise made on April 22, 2022 on France Inter – will not be honored, Pap Ndiaye even denying that this promise had been made.
Regarding the educational measures, there again the disappointment is perceptible. Completely evading the impact of social inequalities on the success of students – yet known to all – the minister contented himself with announcing a “strengthening of fundamental teaching” for the students most in difficulty. This measure is surprising to say the least when we know that currently 73% of compulsory schooling time is already devoted in France to these fundamental lessons, compared to 50% in Europe!
In addition, the methods of implementation remain very vague, since it is primary school teachers who, during the midday break or on Wednesday mornings, will come to the college to carry out this additional work.
Apart from the fact that a single hour of weekly support – i.e. 30 hours a year – cannot be effective, this superficial measure is based on the “6th springboard” which has just started in Hauts-de-France.
The treatment of academic difficulty deserves better than these announcements which remain conditional on the establishment of systems based on additional missions.
Especially since the minister continues to manage the shortage of resources. The abolition of RASED, specialized education and school psychologist posts, added to the 800 job cuts in the first degree and the 500 in the second degree already announced by the Minister for 2023, run counter to an improvement working conditions for teachers and students, an essential condition for academic success.
Finally, the issue of social and educational diversity is not the subject of any concrete proposal from the minister. In these areas, however, private education under contract does not play its part: The concentration of advantaged and successful students is increasing very sharply, while the establishments that come under it benefit from public funding of up to 73% . The State must here assume its role of regulator and avoid the installation of a two-speed school system.
In the end, returning to the habits of his predecessor, the Minister presented superficial measures, devoid of ambition, which in no way solve the most urgent needs of the School of the Republic.
There is, however, an urgent need to reduce the number of classes, to facilitate joint work between primary and middle school teachers, to restore the posts of RASED and school psychologists, to upgrade all teachers, to reinstate a real initial and continuous training and to make social and school diversity an essential reality for a more united, fairer and more fraternal School.