2023-09-12 05:56:14
This is a statistic that undermines a promise from Emmanuel Macron. A week after the start of the school year, there is an average shortage of “at least one teacher in 48% of middle and high schools” in France, according to a survey published Monday by the Snes-FSU, the leading secondary education 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 school system according to Snes. The objective was to “verify the promise of the president and the Minister of Education and show the reality of the start of the school year,” explained Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSU, confirming information from France Info.
Attal speaks of “difficulties here and there”
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 said 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 also bring together the teaching unions on Wednesday to discuss “ways to further strengthen the attractiveness of the teaching profession”, in order to present a “global plan”.
The Créteil academy particularly affected
The start of the school year was once again under pressure due to a recruitment crisis – a phenomenon which has increased since last year – with this year more than 3,100 positions not filled in teacher competitions. “National Education is tinkering: there are classified ads circulating on Facebook or via Pôle emploi to recruit teachers, it’s nonsense,” lamented Sophie Vénétitay. Last year, “as of September 3, we were at nearly 60% of establishments where at least one teacher was missing.”
Not all regions are affected in the same way. Unsurprisingly, the Créteil academy is the most concerned. 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.
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