The return to school was very complicated. A week after the return of students to classes, on average “at least one teacher is missing in 48% of middle and high schools” in France, according to a poll published Monday by Snes-FSU, first secondary union, which denounces a “scandal”.
This survey was carried out during the start of the school year in 508 middle and high schools (out of more than 10,000 secondary schools in France), representative of the French school system according to Snes, in order to “verify the promise of the president and the minister of Education and show the reality of the start of the school year”, Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSU, explained to AFP, confirming information from franceinfo.
Macron’s promise
Emmanuel Macron had notably assured a few days before the start of the school year that the promise of “a teacher in front of each class” at the start of the school year would be “kept”. On the evening of the start of the school year, Gabriel Attal was more nuanced, conceding that “we could have difficulties here or there”, particularly in middle and high school.
Data from academies “shows 500 positions remaining to be filled in secondary education, or 0.1% of positions”, the Ministry of National Education told AFP on Monday evening.
The Snes study “does not distinguish vacancies which are linked to unfilled positions from those linked to a one-off absence of teachers who were indeed assigned to their post but were absent at the start of the school year, for various reasons, for example illness”, he added, stressing that these absences were intended to be “resolved or replaced quickly”.
In this context, the ministry assures that it has “massively” reinforced the resources dedicated to short-term replacement. Gabriel Attal will bring together the teaching unions on Wednesday to discuss “ways to further strengthen the attractiveness of the teaching profession”, with a view to presenting a “global plan”.
3,100 unfilled positions
The start of the school year was once again under pressure due to a teacher recruitment crisis – a phenomenon which has increased since last year – with this year more than 3,100 positions not filled in the competitive examinations. of teachers. “The promise is not kept”, regretted Sophie Vénétitay, deploring “holes in the timetables of thousands of students”, a “scandal” according to her. “It’s always and again the start of the shortage,” she commented.
“National Education is tinkering: there are classified ads circulating on Facebook or via Pôle Emploi to recruit teachers, it’s nonsense,” assures the trade unionist. Last year, “as of September 3, we were in nearly 60% of establishments where at least one teacher was missing,” she compares.
Disparities according to region and subject
Not all regions are affected in the same way. Unsurprisingly, the Créteil academy (Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne and Seine-et-Marne) is the most affected, despite the hiring of contract teachers. In this area, “at least one teacher is missing in 60% of middle and high schools”, indicates the Snes survey.
The union also points to shortcomings in the academies of Versailles (59%), Orléans-Tours (53%), Normandy (51%) or Nantes (50%). The subjects most affected are modern literature, English, mathematics and engineering sciences.