2023-08-27 14:02:36
Gabriel Attal on the board! This Monday will be a big day for the new Minister of Education, since he will present his first back-to-school press conference. A high mass bringing together more than 70 journalists, whose announcements are always closely scrutinized by the million National Education staff. The ideal opportunity for the youngest Minister of Education of the Fifth Republic (34 years old), to show that he has fairly broad shoulders. Especially since it will be necessary to reassure the staff, burned after the passage rue de Grenelle of Jean-Michel Blanquer, considered too authoritarian and that of Pap Ndiaye, who never knew how to really embody the function.
However, the appointment at the end of July of Gabriel Attal has raised some concerns. “He is a faithful of Emmanuel Macron, will he be able to detach himself from the roadmap of the president and be able to convince the Elysée on certain files? asks Elisabeth Allain-Moreno, the general secretary of SE-Unsa. “If Gabriel Attal launches discussions with the unions, but it is Emmanuel Macron who decides unilaterally, it will be complicated. The school should not be the reserved domain of the president, ”warns Catherine Nave-Bekhti, secretary general of Sgen-CFDT. Emmanuel Macron’s interview this Thursday at Point, partly devoted to education, has revived doubts. Not content with revealing his ambitions and his plans to reform the school system which have aroused strong reactions, the tenant of the Elysée declared that “education is part of the reserved domain of the president”. “We fear the return of announcements through the press, as in the Blanquer era”, indicates Guislaine David, secretary general of the FSU-Snuipp. “It sends back the image of a minister who will only be an executor, it is not reassuring”, insists Catherine Nave-Bekhti.
He intends to tackle the replacements of absent teachers
Positive point: during their first exchanges with the minister, the union officials found him to be very familiar with the issues. “It’s the return of politics to National Education, he doesn’t need files and advisers to express himself like Pap Ndiaye”, concedes Guislaine David. It must be said that Gabriel Attal is not sailing in an unknown universe, since he was Secretary of State for Youth to the Minister of Education from 2018-2020. The fact that he was government spokesperson, then Budget Minister and that over the years he has become a staple of Macronie is also part of the elements that weigh on the right side of the balance: “It’s is a good basis for obtaining favorable arbitrations from Bercy. And the fact that Emmanuel Macron has placed a weighty personality in Rue de Grenelle seems to show his interest in the school question, ”said Catherine Nave-Bekhti.
And challenges, the minister will have to meet, in this ministry considered both technical and difficult. During the transfer of power with Pap Ndiaye on July 20, Gabriel Attal unveiled his roadmap with “three priorities”: “Respect for authority and fundamental knowledge at the heart of the school”, non-replacement absent teachers and the well-being of students, which involves the fight against school bullying. During his press conference, the minister should also make announcements concerning the organization of the baccalaureate, in particular on the holding later in the final year (and not in March) of the specialty tests.
Teachers want to put the “pact” back on the table
For their part, the teachers have already listed the subjects they intend to put on the table quickly. And unsurprisingly, they are not quite the same. All intend to first reconsider the “pact”, which provides for an increase in remuneration for teachers, subject to new missions. “It’s the return of ‘work more to earn more’, which is also amplifying wage inequalities between men and women”, underlines Blandine Turki, co-secretary general of the FSU-Snuipp. Most unions want the abolition of this pact, which has little chance of happening, the government having decided to launch it this fall. Otherwise, the unions want the system to be modified: “For example, by ensuring that the pact takes into account missions already carried out by teachers and unpaid”, suggests Catherine Nave-Bekhti.
Another priority issue for teachers: better inclusion of students with disabilities. “We must improve the working conditions of AESH (accompanying students with disabilities), better train teachers, create more places in IME (medico-educational institutes)…”, believes Elisabeth Allain-Moreno.
The question of school co-education, again in the discussions
Many studies on education, including Pisa, having highlighted the increase in educational and social inequalities, teachers would also like Gabriel Attal to take new measures in favor of diversity. In mid-May, National Education signed a memorandum of understanding on the subject with Catholic education, by which the private sector under contract undertakes to increase the share of its scholarship students. But without obligation. “We must follow these set objectives and not hesitate to modulate the allocations to establishments according to their efforts for social diversity”, suggests Catherine Nave-Bekhti.
The unions also want Gabriel Attal to take other measures to stem the recruitment crisis in National Education: “The attractiveness of the profession depends on the salary, but also on an improvement in working conditions. We should reduce the size of classes, hire Rased (teachers specializing in the management of school difficulties), improve the transfer system, review the school building…”, lists Guislaine David. Files that will titillate the art of social dialogue by Gabriel Attal.
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