Is there still a captain at the helm of the immense National Education ship? A few days before the start of the school year, Nicole Belloubet, the resigning minister, remains on deck to “manage current affairs” without knowing who will succeed her and when. In this period of uncertainty, the role of Caroline Pascal, 57, the new Director General of School Education (Dgesco), appointed on July 16, appears crucial. “She is really the one who will keep the shop running this fall,” confirms this former rector. Knowing that the role of a Dgesco is similar to that of an orchestra conductor responsible for putting the policy dictated by the minister to music, her task seems complex to say the least!
Interviewed by L’Express on August 20, Caroline Pascal nevertheless displayed a certain serenity. “For the moment, we are ensuring that we apply everything that has already been discussed, arbitrated, validated and published. We will have to wait for the appointment of a new government to learn more about possible future political orientations,” she said. While wanting to be reassuring about the deadline of September 2: “The start of the school year is being prepared well in advance. On the technical level, everything was perfectly arranged by my predecessor.” Namely Edouard Geffray, who will have held this position for five years before leaving his chair to this Spanish teacher who was a university professor before becoming general inspector of National Education and then taking over the head of this service.
“This makes her an expert on the system and current issues,” assures Charles Torossian, head of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Education and Training. In her entourage, people also praise her “listening and synthesis skills”, her “diplomatic talents” or her “tenacity” or her “skillful authority”. “Caroline Pascal knows how to gain respect without banging her fist on the table,” explains Paul Devin, former inspector of National Education, currently president of the FSU Research Institute, for whom this appointment is also very “strategic”.
“Guardian of the temple of educational policy”
“Caroline Pascal was chosen to be the guardian of the temple of the educational policy implemented since 2017 and to ensure a form of continuity regardless of the minister who is appointed,” says this other inspector general, recalling that the senior civil servant had been appointed dean of this service in 2018 by Jean-Michel Blanquer. In the corridors of the Hôtel de Rochechouart, no one is unaware that the new Dgesco is married to Camille Pascal, former “pen” of Nicolas Sarkozy. “If we had to label her politically, I would say that she is more right-wing or center-right,” deduces this regular on the Rue de Grenelle.
A very “reductive” analysis, protests the person concerned, who also regrets being reduced to her role as “wife of”. And recalls: “I worked with Jean-Michel Blanquer but also with Pap Ndiaye, Gabriel Attal, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra and Nicole Belloubet, all of whom had different sensibilities and with whom my possible political opinions did not have to interfere, which is the rule for any director of the central administration.” The fact remains that Caroline Pascal is “a woman of convictions in the field of education”, according to Mark Sherringham, president of the Higher Council of Programs. “She has very fixed ideas on what should or should not be done and does not refrain from expressing them internally. But since her other characteristic is loyalty, she knows how to comply with the minister’s final decisions”, he continues.
Recently, Caroline Pascal had to supervise the merger of four general inspectorates within a single entity: the General Inspectorate of Education, Sports and Research (IGESR). “She managed to create a form of unity despite the disparities in how each one operated,” says honorary inspector general Gilles Pétreault. She was also the one who had to pilot the transformation of the body of general inspectors into state administrators. As a result, the latter are no longer appointed “for life.” “This has led to a form of self-censorship among agents who are anxious not to “burn themselves out” for the rest of their careers,” denounces one of them, for whom Caroline Pascal participated in this development. “Aware of this risk, we have taken care to establish guarantees of independence,” she defends herself. In parallel with her career, Caroline Pascal is the author of several novels. “But I don’t think I’ll have time to get back to it in the coming months,” she confides.
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