Solange is categorical: “In the end, I would have turned into an embittered teacher and it was the students who would have suffered.” A former teacher, she decided to leave the profession in September 2019 after twenty years of career in National Education. She’s not the only one. Over the 2020-2021 school year, 2,300 teachers resigned, according to figures from the ministry revealed in early July. They were only 804 four years earlier.
This increase in the number of resignations raises concerns, a few days before the start of the school year on September 1. Especially since some 4,000 positions have not been filled following the competitions organized in 2022, out of a total of 27,332 open in the public and private sectors. Lack of recognition, feeling of powerlessness, red tape… Teachers tell us the reasons that led them to throw in the towel.
“One morning, I failed.” Marie* remembers this Tuesday in November 2019 very well: “I had lunch with a colleague and she told me she didn’t recognize me.” That day, helpless in the face of an overcrowded class, this former school teacher with a career of nearly twenty years is overtaken by the fatigue she has accumulated over the years: “As soon as the students left for recess, I cried.” An appointment with his doctor the next day is enough for him to decide to stop it. The sending of a letter of resignation will follow a few weeks later.
For Marie, this burnout and the sick leave that followed are the result of several years of overwork. With nearly 30 students in the same class that year, “I found myself with four different levels. From a pedagogical point of view, I always had to do more”, remembers the 43-year-old former teacher. The observation is the same for Cindy, who taught high school mathematics for ten years at the Nancy-Metz academy. One year, she must supervise a class of terminal S of 39 students. For her, who has to look for additional tables every hour of class, it’s mission impossible.
“I didn’t even have two minutes to give each student. As a result, my lesson was like an hour of college in an auditorium.”
Cindy, former math teacherat franceinfo
For his part, Erwan, a former contractual history-geography teacher (employed by the rectorate) in the Rennes academy, found himself tossed about by an assignment system which led him to change level, even establishment, almost every year. “I happened to go from the sixth to the terminal, from one year to another. In these moments, we have to train at the last moment and learn new programs”, explains the 37-year-old former teacher. Same observation for Cathy, a former English teacher who did replacements for ten years, in Ain and then in the Lyon metropolitan area: “In the end, we realize that we are just a pawn in the face of budgetary requirements, which we will move as needed.“
For many teachers, administrative tasks, “more and more“, also lengthen the working days. The constitution of files and the organization of meetings within the framework of outings or specific projects are very time-consuming. Similarly, they deplore a lack of means which prevents them from properly accompanying the students with disabilities as part of the inclusive school that the government wants to set up.
“I said to myself that things weren’t going well when I thought to myself: can’t wait for the holidays, I’ll be able to work.”
Anne, former professor of classicsat franceinfo
The pressure generated by these responsibilities ends up becoming unbearable, describes Solange. “We always have this anxiety that one day things won’t go well. It ended up eating me.“
A fatigue reinforced by the contempt expressed by the rest of society. “It’s okay, you have 18 hours of lessons a week, what are you complaining about?“, “Anyway, you have plenty of holidays“… These remarks, Solange heard them almost systematically when she was a teacher. She even mentions the “little eyebrow rising” and the “smirk” on the faces of her interlocutors every time she talks about her profession. For her, and for a good number of teachers, stereotypes about the profession are exhausting on a daily basis. “You have to systematically justify yourself, prove that yes, in fact, you really work“, she is offended.
All of the teachers interviewed also point to a “broken bond of trust“with the hierarchy, judged”not present enough“for his staff.”We have zero recognition“, believes Marie, lifted. In everyday life, this is measured by the tone used by the school management and the interlocutors at the rectorate when a teacher wants to report an absence or request a stoppage.”They make us feel guilty by telling us how difficult it will be to find a replacement.“, says Mary.
In the long term, the example of inspection visits is also telling. “The last interview I had was in 2018 and since then I was supposed to have none before retirement“, explains the former teacher. However, many of them emphasize the importance of feedback on their work.
“Nobody ever tells us: ‘What you are doing is good’. In the long run, it becomes exhausting and you no longer want to progress.”
Agnès, former professor of physical sciencesat franceinfo
There is also the question of the salary, considered too low and “not at all rewarding“by most of the teachers franceinfo interviewed. For Anne, who taught at the Toulouse academy, the financial reason weighed heavily in the balance.”I was struggling to finish the month and on top of that, I saw no prospects for career development. I got fed up“, she explains. With a level of bac +5 studies, she says she started at 1 500 euros net per month as holder. After ten years of career, she had barely reached 1 800 euros.
On this subject, the Minister of National Education, Pap Ndiaye, announced in an interview with Parisian (paid item)on June 26, that all new teachers would receive at least 2,000 euros net from 2023. “The value of the civil service index point has also been increased by 3.5% as of July 1, 2022“, replied the ministry at the end of July, contacted by franceinfo.
Sometimes, it is hardly entered in the trade that the teachers, freshly graduated, are resigned to leave it. “Once the competition is over, we are given a class without preparation or advice“, testifies Julie, who only worked for a few months as a school teacher in the Orléans-Tours academy.
When he was assigned to his first class near Caen in 2019, Jordan* very quickly felt lost in the face of the group of students he had to manage overnight. “Inevitably, at the beginning, I had difficulty establishing my authority“, he laments in a small voice. As a trainee teacher (first year before tenure), he is in charge of a CE1-CE2 class on Mondays and Tuesdays.
“The reality on the ground is very different from what we learn at school. I would have waited for tips, concrete advice on how to teach in class, but nothing came.”
Jordan*, former school teacherat franceinfo
During this internship year, a tutor teacher is supposed to accompany him, but in practice, he lacks advice. Jordan goes through bad experiences for months, until he decides to resign during the summer, after a month off. The young 27-year-old teacher will unfortunately never be established. “By dint of not knowing who to contact, I said to myself that it was never going to work“, he concludes, looking sorry.
Often teachers only realize the extent of their suffering when it affects their health. For Agnès, these are “unexplainable back problems“, of the “recurrent migraines“and a hospitalization in 2019 which give the alert. Contacted by franceinfo, the rectorate of Lille indicates that when such situations of ill-being are reported to it, “teachers are encouraged to contact an advisor in human resources or preventive medicine“. In fact, the solutions offered remain limited, argues Agnès. “We feel like we’re hitting a wall“, says Céline, a former teacher.
Faced with this wall, some then decide to give up their aprons. “It was either leave or stay in the boat and go down with it. I saved my skin“Summarizes Marie with a resigned air. Today, they are beekeepers, inspectors, actors or even apprentice booksellers. “Blossoming” and “much less tired“, almost all of them admit to rethinking their teaching profession and their students.”When I meet them, they still call me mistress“, rejoices Solange, today manager of lodgings in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The “pleasure to teach” never left her. With hindsight, everyone comes to the same conclusion: they did not leave because of the job, but because of a dysfunctional system, a “big machine“who used them.
* The first name has been changed at the request of the person concerned.