On February 10, upon the announcement of his arrival at the head of the Higher Council of Programs (CSP), the accusations flourished on social networks. For some unions and professionals in the educational world, the appointment of Mark Sherrigham – who replaces Souad Ayada who has left to chair the new French Institute of Islamology – is seen as a provocation. In a press release, SE-Unsa describes him as a “very conservative personality close to traditional Catholic circles and who has shown, in the past, a certain aversion to social dialogue”. The FSU expresses its “deep concern based on the most ambiguous remarks that Mark Sherringham has continued to make”. On February 14, Yannick Jadot, environmental candidate for the presidential election, was in turn moved by the appointment of a “supporter of the explicit integration of Christianity in questions of education”. Jean-Michel Blanquer “shows again that he conceives this authority above all as the transmission belt of his ideological fads”, he says.
It is not surprising that this news has caused such a stir, the position in question having a highly political and strategic dimension. Admittedly, the CSP, created in 2013 by the Peillon law, presents itself as an “independent” body which aims to introduce more pluralism into educational programs. However, each Minister of National Education appoints a personality who shares his vision of school as President. Upon his arrival in 2017, Souad Ayada, classified by some in the “conservative” camp, like Jean-Michel Blanquer, had to scrap with the clan of “pedagogists”. Like her, Mark Sherringham should expect regular attacks from his detractors. No sooner had he taken his place in his new chair than the battle began.
Mark Sherringham, presented as a “man in the shadows” by those around him, is broken into the workings of the education system. Normalien, holder of a doctorate of philosophy, he taught at the University Institute of teacher training in Alsace between 1993 and 2004. The following year, he joined the ranks of the General Inspectorate of National Education. He also gravitates in the political sphere since in 1980, he became an advisor to Prime Minister Raymond Barre’s office. In the 2000s, the senior civil servant then officiated under the orders of the ministers of education François Fillon and Xavier Darcos. In his writings and during some of his speeches, the man who chaired the Council of the Reformed Theological Faculty of Aix-en-Provence (from 1989 to 1998) has several times expounded on the place of Christianity in the educational field. .
Some of his remarks reappear today. In 2009, in the weekly Christian Family, he defined the public school as “the heiress of the Christian school”. And wondered: “Hasn’t the time come to explicitly reintroduce Christianity in the field of the most current educational questions?”. A few years earlier, in 2004, he took part in a round table organized by the International Center for Educational Studies. “Secularism will only be capable of a refoundation and a renewal if it accepts (…) to consider that religion is not only a cultural problem but indeed a means of access to the question of ultimate ends of humanity,” he said.
Some “worried” unions
This raises the concern of some teachers’ unions. “Even if we in no way dispute Mr. Sherrigham’s right to affirm his faith, in particular in many Catholic journals, the question of the impartiality of the new president of the CSP is raised”, advances Rémy-Charles Sirvent, secretary national of SE-Unsa, and general secretary of the National Committee for Secular Action. Paul Devin, president of the FSU Research Institute also warns that “it will be necessary to remain vigilant” and “to ensure that the personal convictions of Mark Sherringham do not influence the exercise of his functions”. Contacted by L’Express, the interested party specifies: “All the remarks which are “reproached to me” by some today were pronounced between 2001 and 2004 within the framework of university conferences, around the publication of the report by Régis Debray on “the teaching of religion at the school of the Republic”. The 2009 interview only repeats some of these remarks”. At the time, he was a lecturer in philosophy. “My interventions therefore fell under academic freedom. I specify that none of these interventions took place during my courses”, adds Mark Sherringham.
On February 13, Jean-Michel Blanquer, questioned about this appointment, also tried to sweep away this controversy. “We are not the Soviet Union, we are France. That means secularism, complete religious freedom, complete neutrality of the State in relation to religions. But in no way the fight against the metaphysical need of man or against religions,” he explained. Within the body, which brings together six parliamentarians, two representatives of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council and “ten qualified personalities” (academics or inspectors general), we prefer to remain silent for the moment. With the exception of Max Brisson, senator LR, who does not hesitate to step up. “On paper, Mark Sherringham seems to me to have all the professional qualities required to exercise this function”, assures the one who knows the educational world well for having been Inspector General himself. “These witchcraft trials conducted by left-wing parties and unions as soon as we do not fall within the framework of what is considered the dominant doxa are simply unbearable!”, he annoys.
In their book, “School outside the Republic. Investigation into the heart of parallel education networks” (Robert Laffont, 2021), journalists Anna Erelle and Jacques Duplessy, evoke the troubled roles that Mark Sherringham would have recently played . The man is notably suspected of having exerted pressure on the rector of Rennes, in July 2020, so that students from three high schools outside the Catholic faith contract obtain their baccalaureate despite an “incomplete continuous control file”. The unsuccessful candidates would have finally obtained their diploma thanks to his intervention. “These assertions are false, assures Mark Sherringham. I hope that their authors will have the honesty to verify their sources and present a denial.” “I am flabbergasted when I read what is written about him”, also confides Caroline Pascal, head of the general inspection of education, sport and research. “Mark Sherringham, who has served as Inspector General for 17 years, is a recognized professional who has a very wide range of expertise,” she testifies. Before adding: “Extremely rigorous to the point of sometimes being a little rough in the work, I have never known him to have the slightest breach of the principle of ethics”.
A defender of out-of-contract schools?
It is also said that Mark Sherringham would be close to personalities defending non-contract schools, such as Anne Coffinier, founder of the Kairos Foundation, hosted by the Institut de France. Which is chaired by Xavier Darcos. “I came across Mark Sherringham during his visits to different firms,” admits the young woman. “In 2020, with the association Create your school, which I chair, we organized training for managers of non-contract establishments, during which he intervened to specify the outline of the inspection missions organized by the State. “, she continues. Paul Devin denounces a “confusion of genres”. “How can you imagine chairing the CSP while also rendering services of this style to schools that teach outside the national programs?” Asks this member of the FSU. “A false trial” for Caroline Pascal who specifies that the intervention of Mark Sherringham was carried out within the framework of his functions. In 2018, the latter was responsible for co-piloting a general inspection mission on monitoring the implementation of the Gatel law related to the control of private establishments outside the contract. “It was following this mission that I agreed to speak to officials of non-contract schools to present to them the requirements of National Education in terms of control and monitoring of their establishments”, explains- he.
In the past, Mark Sherringham was the driving force behind the reform of university teacher training institutes. It was in 2008, when Xavier Darcos was minister. An episode that earned him some enmity within the trade union world. Christian Chevalier, at the time in charge of the file on behalf of SE-Unsa, evokes a “discreet” and “very elusive” man. “It was difficult to establish a dialogue with him, regrets the former union official. He is someone who preferred to avoid conflicts. He made you believe that he would take your requests and remarks into account, but afterwards, he just did what he wanted.” The two men also had strong substantive differences. “Mark Sherringham has set up extremely conservative teacher training, focused on mastering the discipline, much more than on professional gesture or pedagogy”, advances Christian Chevalier. A new dividing line between “conservatives” and “pedagogists”. This same year, the school curricula for primary education will also be overhauled. On the move… a certain Mark Sherringham. “At the time, we were starting to debate subjects such as that of the global method. The programs were rewritten in a more traditionalist sense”, recalls Alain Boissinot, former rector of the Versailles Academy and ex-director of cabinet by Luc Ferry. “We were already in this current of thought which was then taken up and amplified by Jean-Michel Blanquer”, continues the one who was at the head of the Higher Council of Programs from October 2013 to June 2014.
The mistrust that is expressed today vis-à-vis the appointment of the new president of the CSP illustrates well the lively ideological quarrels between the two camps. “It’s as if Jean-Michel Blanquer had wanted to extend his mandate beyond the presidential election,” said one of his opponents. For his part, Alain Boissinot regrets that these debates take precedence over questions of operation. “The CSP today comes up against real pitfalls such as the frenetic pace from which it must escape. The frequency and speed at which the programs are modified make teachers in the field dizzy. This system deserves to be completely reviewed” , believes the senior official. Such a reform is not in the news. Topics on the agenda of the CSP? Digital in education, and the initial and continuing training of teachers. “Other projects will obviously be launched in the months to come, in particular after the next elections,” explains Mark Sherringham. It is from there that everything will be played.