Nicole Belloubet practically blew the fuse before the Senate Committee on Education and Culture this week. In the end, it was Emmanuel Macron who booked the first post. Traveling to a Paris elementary school, accompanied by the Minister of National Education, the head of state described in detail the reform of school teacher training. “If we want to succeed in this conflict of knowledge, we must have the best possible trained teachers (…) We clearly see that the system we adopted in recent decades was undoubtedly not the best. Why ? Because he was actually forcing teachers to continue with courses that were varied and diverse for five years after graduation? We had a competition that was at the end of Master 2 and we had a lot of teachers who went beyond basic knowledge for several years, so it’s hard to convey that,” he pointed out.
For this reason, licenses will be created for preparation for school teaching after high school graduation, a kind of “integrated preparation” for the teacher competition that will progress at the end of the license. “Then you will have professional master’s degrees that will actually be our normal schools of the 21st century,” he compared. The Elysée subsequently specified that students will be paid up to 1,400 euros net in Master 1 as a student civil servant, and up to 1,800 euros net in Master 2, which corresponds to the compensation of trainee civil servants. Please note that students who do not have a completed license for teaching preparation will be able to take the competitive exam.
“Is the university best equipped to provide training in learning basic knowledge?” »
Max Brisson, Vice President of the LR Committee for Culture and Education of the Senate, believes that “a professional license is an excellent thing”. “Teacher is a special profession. The one who teaches children to read, to read, to write, to count. A good training in French and mathematics is essential,” he recalls. However, the senator regrets that the idea of the return of normal schools, which was presented by Gabriel Attal during his brief visit to the Rue de Grenelle, was abandoned. “We are far from that, because the master’s degree remains the prerogative of the University, which has failed. Will the content change if the system organization does not change? Is the university best equipped to provide training in learning fundamentals? The connection with practice is great, so National Education should have a hand in that”, believes the chosen one.
“I’m afraid that the government will see teachers as passive civil servants who have to apply circulars”
The communist vice-president of the Senate, Pierre Ouzoulias, assesses, on the contrary, that this reform made “without consultation or consultation with parliamentarians casts doubt on the universities”. “We will not re-create normal schools, it would cost too much, so teacher training remains in the hands of universities. But with this reform, it seems, we want to say that the pedagogy taught at the university would be disastrous or even dangerous. I am afraid that the government will see teachers as passive civil servants who have to apply circulars. This is against the educational freedom of teachers and the autonomy of universities. If we want to strengthen the attractiveness of the profession, we must teach future teachers to have the foundations for adapting teaching according to classes and institutions”, he claims.
“We fear that this is formatting, not training”
Guislaine David, general secretary of FSU-SNUipp, the first primary school union, called the reform “counterproductive”. With this “specific permit” “we risk excluding ourselves from a significant number of candidates”, she fears. “We are afraid that this is shaping, not training, shaping on the basics – maths and French – while what is important when we teach is understanding the mechanism of student learning,” the trade unionist told AFP.
The competition for high school and college teachers will also go to the licensure
The head of state was more vague about the schedule. “We will step it up from next year and actually in two or three years, we will systematize it.” During a press briefing organized a few minutes later, the entourage of the head of state clarified that the competition for the license level will open from the next school year, but that the new licenses for teaching preparation will not be available until the beginning of the 2025 school year, with the aim of being at least one per academy. The competition for high school and college teachers will also move to the licensure level. The student will, as is the case now, attend a disciplinary diploma (French language, mathematics, history, etc.) “to which additional modules can be added that enable them to master pedagogy and familiarize themselves with the field”.
This reform of teacher education aims to “much better train, better prepare (….) and also better recognize our compatriots who want to engage in this profession”, boasted the president.
“Is it up to the President of the Republic to announce the teacher training model? »
Before the senator, Nicole Belloubet admitted this week that the recruitment competitions did not allow meeting all the needs for the implementation of French language and mathematics classes at the college as envisaged by the “shock by shock” knowledge reform. More than 3,100 posts were unfilled in spring 2023 teacher vacancies. As a result, academies will be recruiting contract staff from June. The minister even suggested “inviting retired teachers”.
Finally, it is hard not to notice that the head of state downloaded the file that Gabriel Attal wanted to keep in his reserved domain. “The form is terrible. It is up to the President of the Republic to announce the model for the training of classroom teachers. What does the Minister of National Education do? », annoys Max Brisson.
“France is a privileged country because we have three ministers of national education,” says Pierre Ouzoulias ironically.