Many teachers are missing. More than 3,100 positions have not been filled this year in teacher competitions, according to figures published Thursday evening July 6 by the Ministry of Education. This confirms persistent recruitment difficulties, but to a lesser degree than last year. According to the ministry, 3,163 positions have not been filled in the public sector, out of more than 23,800 open in 2023. In detail, the number of unfilled positions amounts to 1,315 in the first degree (kindergarten and elementary) and 1,848 in the second degree (colleges and high schools). In 2022, more than 4,000 positions had not been filled in competitions, including 3,733 in the public sector – a level never reached before.
However, the ministry notes an “overall improvement in the performance of competitions”, that is to say that more positions are filled. This allows, according to him, “to approach the start of the new school year in a more serene way than last year”. In December, the Ministry of Education noted an increase of 9% in registrations for teacher competitions in the first degree, and 4% in the second degree.
In the public sector, in kindergarten and elementary, the rate of positions filled at the national level is 84% this year, compared to 78.2% in 2022. For the second degree (colleges and high schools), it is 86.3 %, against 83.3% last year, the ministry said in a statement.
The results of the first degree teacher competitions – which take place at the academy level, and not at the national level as for the second degree – reveal serious recruitment deficits in the academies in the Ile-de-France region and in Guyana: 51.9% of posts provided for the Créteil academy, 55% for that of Versailles and 30.2% for Guyana. But 26 out of 30 academies fill all the positions offered, the ministry points out.
Inequalities between subjects
In the second degree, the situation is “contrasted according to the disciplines”: some fill all their positions (history-geography, philosophy, visual arts, life and Earth sciences), others are in deficit (mathematics, German, Spanish and classics). For the Capes, the secondary school teacher competition, German had 205 open positions, but only 101 candidates passed the written tests and were eligible for the oral tests.
Other subjects are “in progress”, such as English, physics chemistry or modern letters. This recruitment crisis requires the use of contract workers, people who have not passed the competition or who have not taken it. Indeed, faced with a shortage of teachers, National Education is increasingly calling on replacements. Last year, some 3,000 contract teachers were hired in recruitment sessions, dubbed Job dating, which sparked controversy. In question: the express training of new recruits which could be summed up in four days, barely enough time to learn the tricks of the new profession.
The prerequisites for applying for the position of contractual teacher are accessible: having a Bac + 3 and a clean criminal record. Thus, the spectrum of recruitment remains quite broad, resulting in an uneven level among future teachers. In order not to make the same mistakes again, the ministry indicates that it is offering “reinforced support” this year with an anticipation of recruitment from June/July; eight days of training on average in the first degree before the start of the school year, seven days in the second degree. A short preparation.
Towards a salary increase
Faced with the shortage of candidates for the teacher competitions, Pap Ndiaye wishes to speed up the process of recruiting school teachers, by bringing the competition to bac +3 in 2025 instead of bac + 5. “I want to place the school teacher competition to bac +3 without giving up the master’s degree. We will offer, after the competition, two years of renovated and remunerated training”, declared Thursday, June 29, the Minister of Education in an interview with the newspaper The world. The competition for the recruitment of school teachers (CRPE) is currently open to students in the second year of a master’s degree as well as to people who already hold a master’s degree, i.e. five years after obtaining the baccalaureate.
In addition, the executive hopes to make the profession more attractive thanks to a handful of new measures. For example with a minimum of 2,000 euros net monthly for new teachers, or an increase of 8 to 11% in salary for those who are in their first fifteen years of career. The teacher pact initiative was also added, to which teachers can choose to join or not, in order to inflate the salaries of the principals concerned. This system consists of offering additional remuneration to those who accept additional assignments. Enough to cringe the unions who demanded “an ambitious and unrequited revaluation for all staff”.