On social networks, the moving video of an exhausted school teacher and at the end of solutions to the lack of inclusion at school caused parents and teachers to react. The hashtag #inclusionalert was born. Testimony.
“I am on the verge of not going to work tomorrow, to tell you the truth, I am on the verge of resigning”: It is with these words, full of meaning, that Emilie Hanrot recently made people talk about her on Instagram. The SOS from this school teacher, who runs the @kifferlecole account (followed by more than 250,000 subscribers) created a buzz. In his Instagram biography, his philosophy is clearly assumed, his goal is above all to make “love school”, both students and teachers. Except that in recent months, his joy in teaching has gradually vanished, giving way to a total feeling of helplessness and exhaustion. The reason: the cruel lack of inclusion at school and the absence of resources allocated to education staff.
“Since the beginning of the year, I have alerted my superiors that I do not feel capable of ensuring the physical and emotional safety of my students. Because for the first time in my career, I do not feel armed, but totally powerless in the face of students who have neuropsychological disorders and behavioral disorders such that when they are present, I cannot do class”, confides the teacher in her video which contains the caption #inclusionalert. The lack of inclusion in schools is notable in France. Although the government has been proclaiming for several years “the right to education for all children, regardless of their disability”, in reality, it is far from being as easy to set up.
Just by looking at the figures, we can easily see the extent of the “problem”: at the start of the 2023 school year, there were more than 430,000 disabled children attending school in so-called “ordinary” settings, while in 2004, there were around 134,000. Among them, there are just over 45,000 children with autism spectrum disorders enrolled in “ordinary” establishments. Students who need supervision, support and a structured framework. But not all teachers are sufficiently trained and are not supported by AESH (supporting students with disabilities) or ATSEM in class. This is the case for Emilie Hanrot, but also for other teachers. “L’inclusion at all costs comes at the expense of our mental and physical health. In my class, I had educational advisors, a school psychologist, a disability representative, I am also in contact with all types of associations. But on a daily basis, who gets hit, pushed around? Who should console each other’s tears? Who notices hair being pulled out, furniture turned over, children disappearing without warning? The school climate has become unbearable for me and it is impossible in these conditions to enjoy school.” she points out at the end.
Under her video, liked by more than 160,000 people, Emilie received numerous messages of support from colleagues, but also, and against all expectations, a wave of hateful and discriminatory comments. In response, the association An Inclusive School for All published a press release in which it recalls that cohesion is essential on this subject because “the problem is not that of the presence of atypical children in classes, but rather that of the lack of human and material resources available to teachers in a School which is only inclusive by its name on a text of law .”