The headteachers are doing badly, and – once will not hurt – say so. “We wear the name of chef, but we have no prerogative. We are just good at wearing the hat when things go wrong”; “the hierarchy confuses the necessary loyalty of the management staff with the obligation to conceal any dysfunction”; “just in my pool, out of a dozen colleagues, three fell into depression”… So many shocking words collected by the former college principal Patrice Romain, published in his book Omerta in National Education. School leaders come out of the silence, to be published on September 7 (ed. du Cherche midi).
The author spoke exclusively to L’Express about his experience and that of his colleagues a few days before the start of the school year… which he will not do, since the former “lose” (name given to management personnel ) is now retired. “But I never minced my words, even when I was in office,” says the man who has already devoted several books to the multiple taboos of the institution. His latest opus is a cry of alarm. “During my career, I have seen many of my colleagues in pain but unable to openly express what they were going through. I thought it was time to free up speech”, explains the author, who says he received several hundred responses to his call for evidence.
Losing at the end of the line a few days before the start of the school year, on September 4, this analysis is shared by Georges Fotinos, former Inspector General of National Education and expert in the school climate who already in November 2021 delivered a worrying observation in a national survey called Breathless management staff*. 92% of staff surveyed noted a deterioration in their working conditions, 22% often said they were unable to carry out their duties, and 9.5% claimed to suffer from severe depression. The health crisis had passed by. “But today the situation has worsened even more, and many indicators are red,” insists Georges Fotinos. “The state of mind of our profession summed up in one word? Uncertainty,” says Julien Giovacchini, deputy general secretary of the Independence & Management FO (ID-FO) union. “We are always on the grill, having to manage the institutional orders which can fall on us at the last minute according to the current subjects, which multiply”, sighs the principal.
One of the latest examples: the suicide of Lindsay, a 13-year-old girl who killed herself after being bullied by her classmates. This tragedy has put the issue of school bullying back at the center of the debate. “We were then asked to urgently organize an hour of awareness in all the colleges… As if nothing had been done before!”, underlines Julien Giovacchini, who sees it as a negation of their work. And Bruno Bobkiewicz, at the head of SNPDEN-Unsa to continue: “We are in a washing machine which we have trouble getting out of since the Covid.” He denounces “announcements, often coming directly from the President of the Republic, without diagnosis or prior consultation”. The recent interview with the Head of State in Point, in which he multiplies all-out announcements, added frustration. According to the 2023 barometer of Unsa Education professions, only 14% of losers support the political choices made (compared to 24% in 2022). A figure that questions, coming from a profession renowned for its sense of service to the State and unaccustomed to blows of brilliance. The new cabinet management of Gabriel Attal, who would maintain close and regular exchanges with the unions since his arrival, is well aware of the issue. As soon as he took office on July 20, the new minister, among other things, insisted on his desire to “put respect for authority back at the heart of the school”. Another subject that losing them will have to be tackled head-on in the coming months.
The teacher pact has sparked new tensions
Very skeptical, Patrice Romain sees it, him, “a new blow of communication”. “The now well-known system of the ‘no wave’ is such that everything should be reviewed. However, changing mentalities would take more than ten years, and the political time in which each minister fits is much too short “, he laments. In his book, the author multiplies the examples of incidents minimized in high places. Like this fire alarm regularly activated by students: exasperated, the principal warns, whoever gets caught will go to the disciplinary council… which the academic director of the national education services (Dasen) will consider to be a “disproportionate reaction”. School leaders themselves tend to suppress certain facts. In his book The most beautiful job in the world (Flammarion), William Lafleur, alias “Monsieur Le Prof”, known for his humorous comics, explains why he threw in the towel after his twelve years of practice. The lack of support from his hierarchy in the event of threats or violence from a student is one of them. “All because they have a reputation to keep, they move regularly from establishment to establishment and that, to have a chance to evolve, they must present good results”, he attacks.
The trade unions to lose deny, for their part, to comply with any policy of the number … even if they recognize having to resist certain “unacceptable demands”. According to the Fotinos survey, 77% of staff believe that their confidence in the institution has deteriorated. The “teacher pact” put in place from this start of the school year, which will allow volunteer teachers to carry out additional missions for remuneration, has further aroused tensions. “At the end of May, certain Dasen or rectors began to put pressure on the staff of certain departments to encourage them to put pressure on teachers themselves to join the pact. Which is absolutely not our role! “, recalls Bruno Bobkiewicz, aware of the unpopular nature of this measure. It should be noted that the losers have no authority over the teachers… while being responsible for the proper functioning of their college or high school. “Our only lever is negotiation, the art of convincing teachers to accept what is asked of us in high places. Which is often exhausting!”, says Patrice Romain.
But the real pet peeve of the principals or principals very often remains the parents of pupils, with whom you have to know how to deal. “To the question ‘Have relations with parents deteriorated?’, 12% answered in the affirmative in 2004… and 43% in 2021! A considerable increase!” exclaims Georges Fotinos. “In general, it is to us that they turn to complain about the shortage of teachers. No matter how much we explain to them that we are not responsible, many do not want to hear it”, also deplores a regional principal. Parisian who wishes to remain anonymous. Many families also lobby for grades achieved by their offspring. According to Patrice Romain, some heads of establishment would ask teachers to be lenient in the name of “benevolence”. “So a teacher can be told, ‘How is it that your class average is 8 while your colleague’s is 18?’ Understood, this is not normal“, he says. The goal, according to him? Display better results in order to improve the reputation of their establishment. A vision here again deemed “caricatural” by part of the profession which, by way of explanation, highlights the concern for “harmonization” of the marks, the way of evaluating being very different from one teacher to the other.
The other big issue this fall will be respect for secularism, in particular the treatment of abayas, which caused great dismay on the ground last year. “It is now up to the head of the establishment to prove the intentionality of the young woman who wears it and then to engage in a discussion with the family before banning it, explains Alain Mallet, deputy secretary general of ID-FO When you only have three cases in an establishment, it can be managed. But when you exceed a hundred cases, setting up a dialogue procedure becomes very complicated. This is why the union has been demanding for months a clear speech from the ministry. A request heard by Gabriel Attal, who, during his back-to-school press conference on August 28, affirmed that “the abaya has no place in our schools” and announced the upcoming production of a set texts to rely on. The assassination of Samuel Paty is of course still on everyone’s mind. Hence the importance of denouncing the famous “no waves” … despite the various pressures.
* Survey conducted in collaboration with Casden and SNPDEN-Unsa, to which 33% of management personnel responded.