Sanctioning school heads who are not sufficiently vigilant regarding teachers’ duty of neutrality… This is one of the measures envisaged by the National Rally if it came to power. “We are not threatening anyone, we just want the law to be respected,” tries to qualify Roger Chudeau, often nicknamed in the press the “Mr. Education of the RN”. Before being elected deputy for Loir-et-Cher in 2022, this fine connoisseur of the workings of rue de Grenelle, who was an associate professor, principal, general inspector then ministerial advisor, had written Marine Le Pen’s education program during the last presidential election.
The broad outlines of this text give us some clues about the priorities of the far right. Like the “reinforcement of the requirement of absolute neutrality of members of the teaching body in political, ideological and religious matters vis-à-vis the students entrusted to them”. Until then, nothing really new since the duty of neutrality is supposed to apply to all civil servants. But the RN innovates by considering an “increase in the control power of inspection bodies in this area”, and an “obligation to report problematic cases under penalty of sanctions against supervisors”. Here are the management personnel warned!
The RN program dated 2022 clearly provides for a tightening of ideological screws vis-à-vis the teaching staff. In addition to the “increased” control of the duty of neutrality, there is talk of putting an end to the “lax doctrine in disciplinary matters”, of “taking control of the content and methods of teaching” or even of the abolition of the National Institutes superiors of teaching and education (Inspés) who “contribute to spreading a harmful ideology”….
Permanent bonding
This party’s distrust of teaching staff historically classified on the left and perceived as particularly hostile to the ideas of the RN is very old. “In the years 1990-2000, the National Front conveyed the idea that following a sort of “inner Yalta” organized in 1945, the economy would have been ceded to the right, while the left would have inherited culture and education”, explains Ismail Ferhat, professor at the University of Nanterre and member of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation. A conspiracy theory since there have never been any discussions or agreement of this type.
“Even if the discourse has softened a little since the arrival of Marine Le Pen, this desire to take control of the education sector in order to avoid any subversive behavior is still very present,” continues Ismail Ferhat. “We will not tolerate, for example, a teacher telling high school students that they must take to the streets to fight the National Rally. If this happens, we will apply the regulations without fail,” warns Roger Chudeau. .
For Alain Boissinot, former rector and former chief of staff of Luc Ferry, the possible entry of the RN into the government could give rise to a “much more authoritarian operation which would considerably restrict the margins of appreciation of teachers reduced to the rank of executives “. The idea of strengthening the control of inspection bodies over what can be said in class would, according to him, not only “highly questionable” but also “totally impractical”. “The Versailles academy that I directed for several years has thousands of history and geography teachers for only a few inspectors. Even if they accepted it, how do you expect the latter to ensure such permanent policing? “, asks the senior official, fearing that this type of measure could be perceived as an implicit call for denunciation on the part of the parents.
Even if he recognizes that today some teachers can display personal political convictions and therefore violate their duty of neutrality in front of their students, which sometimes results in them being called to order, Iannis Roder, history teacher -geography and director of the Education Observatory at the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, also believes that it would be illusory to want to go further in terms of control. “National Education functions on trust, cohesion and coherence. The principals and principals do not want to live like little bosses and the fact of wanting to corporalize the system would have the sole effect of turning everyone away and creating a deleterious climate,” he believes.
“School violence was underestimated by the other parties”
Another central theme of the National Rally on an educational level: the return to order and authority. “Many management personnel, in order not to draw attention to their establishment or for fear that they will be considered incompetent, do not report all incidents or attacks on secularism,” says Roger Chudeau, who wishes to do so. a “regulatory obligation” and provides for sanctions against heads of establishments who deviate from the law. Ditto if they refuse to apply the “floor sanctions” – the program does not specify which ones – which will be introduced for students summoned to the disciplinary council. The theme of security, invested by the RN, resonates with the “no waves” movement, which highlighted the loneliness of teachers and the lack of support from their hierarchy in the face of phenomena of violence.
But this punitive aspect could put off more than one person, especially since teachers, within the public service, remain the most hostile to the theses defended by the extreme right. Note, however, that Jordan Bardella’s party continues to gain ground. 15% of them would have chosen the RN in the last European elections. And this academic, a specialist in the educational world, confides “off”: “The RN has understood the interest in taking up the subject of school violence, underestimated by the other parties, and in particular by the left. He poses as a defender of teachers while warning that they will be sanctioned for the slightest ideological blunder or perceived as such.”
One of the paragraphs of the RN presidential program in 2022 was also devoted to “taking control of the content and methods of teaching”. One of the proposals being that “the details of the programs and the labels validating school textbooks will be the responsibility of the Minister of National Education”. A “totally demagogic” measure for Alain Boissinot who exclaims: “How is this new? The programs are already the subject of official texts and decrees validated by the minister today! All this is not not serious and gives the impression that this is a subject on which the National Rally has not worked extensively.”
Another measure put forward two years ago and still relevant for the RN today: the disappearance of the Inspés, cps in 2019, deemed “ineffective” and “contributing to the dissemination of a harmful ideology in the educational institution”. “The educational movement can pride itself on having deconstructed the school by introducing a kind of doxa suggesting, for example, that students are capable of constructing their own learning. These nonsense no longer have anything to do at school !” exclaims Roger Chudeau. The denunciation of certain so-called “pedagogical” fads is not new. The debate today crosses both the right and part of the left.
But what does the RN offer in terms of training in place of the Inspés? “Once admitted to Capes and to the aggregation, future teachers will then be directly trained by experienced peers duly paid in return, within the educational establishments” says the 2022 program. Even if it considers that the training of teachers , now entrusted to the university, must return to the fold of National Education, Iannis Roder believes that simple “on-the-job training” is not possible. “It’s still very light,” asserts the history and geography professor. And Roger Chudeau tried to rectify the situation by specifying the possible creation of “academic training schools” without saying more. “We are in the process of finalizing our government program currently in press. Knowing that Jordan, if he accesses Matignon, will not have free rein on everything,” confides Roger Chudeau, tipped as potential Minister of Education national.
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