The theme of suffering at work among National Education staff was the focus of a “sign conference” on Friday, March 29 in Léo de Foix.
Marie, Julien, Amélie, Katia… That day there were about twenty AESH (accompanying students with disabilities, Editor’s Note), sitting in front of Sébastien Monié, the speaker, who for this circumstance had worn a t-shirt with the text “Believe me, I am a dogtor” – understand “Faitez-moi, je suis medicien”. The tone was set: humorous in form, more than serious in content to answer a question that clearly appeals to these professionals, among whom one, asked to describe himself with a single adjective, chose “exhausted”.
Exchange of experiences
As he explained in the introduction, Sébastien Monié knows what he is talking about. For eleven years he was “the colleague I would have liked to meet”, becoming involved in trade union life until he took part in the major consultation on inclusive schools launched in 2018 by the then Minister of National Education, Jean-Paul. Michel Blancquer. Then came the burnout…
“We do not have a burnout, we suffer from a burnout, we are the victims of a burnout,” the speaker wanted to clarify, still not gesticulating very much, emphasizing the impression he had then “dealt with become like cattle.” Then came a definition of disability, with hat in hand, before we got to the heart of the subject, which started almost two hours of recalling real life situations, which prompted led to many discussions at the end of the conference.
“We wanted to take this moment to talk about AESH and their suffering at work, especially since there is no space for them to speak,” underlined Ampari Perez, the department secretary of Sud Education. A necessary time for discussion, it seems, and one that should be renewed in May.