A back-to-school atmosphere hovered at the Charlemagne high school in Paris, on the morning of Tuesday, August 23. Some anxious faces and others more relaxed are present pamong the 220 contract workers recruited by the Paris Academy for the start of the school year.
>> Back to school 2022: the shortage of teachers worries, less than ten days before the start of the school year
And when you have to answer the question posed by the trainer: “I take a disruptive student out of my class: what should I do?“, Axel, who was an educational assistant and supervisor for two years in college, is rather calm. He then speaks:Leaving a child alone, I don’t think that’s allowed. Better take him to the manager…“In this start of the 2022 school year, he is preparing to teach in a primary school, like the other contract workers trained with him.
All morning, the contract workers reflect on concrete situations and rules to be observed regarding outings schools, the time of arrival at the establishment as well as questions related to secularism. They will then be informed about the functioning of a school, the relations with the management, the inspection and the parents of pupils. Before starting two days devoted to the preparation of fundamental courses in primary school: mathematics and French.
The jump into the deep end of the contractuals is scheduled for Thursday, September 1, the day of the start of the school year. Estelle, a contract teacher, has a rather mixed state of mind. She admits to being “un little stressed but for the right reasons”, before adding : “Jtry to give the best of myself, therefore, necessarily I cannot arrive totally serene… But I prepared myself well during the holidays”.
If the young woman has already completed 8 months of civic service in a nursery school, this new teaching position is a first: she has not, moreover, done any specific studies to become a teacher. However, she was able to prepare her lessons because she has known for several weeks now that she will be teaching medium and large sections.
For his part, Brice, a former salesman, does not show any experience in terms of education. He still does not know what level he will have in class and it could go from CP to CM2. “We cannot prepare specifically, so we will see. Afterwards, we are not alone. In a school, there is a team, colleagues, a director. There’s no reason it shouldn’t work.” he smiled.
New contract teachers will normally be monitored by head teachers and inspectors. They will also have about twenty days of training during the year. At the microphone of franceinfo, Antoine Destret, director of the academy, wants to be reassuring: “We recruited more people than we needed. Of the 223 people this morning, there are 80 who were there with us last year or other years. We put them in front of the students. The others, we will assign them to replacements, etc.
Estelle, for the first time on contract and already assigned to a class, would therefore be an exceptional case. However, colleges and high schools lack teachers with degrees in maths, technology, economics and sports.
In this situation, beginners may well have to manage year-round classes like homeroom teachers.
TEACHER CONTRACTUAL TRAINING
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