Desperately empty dormitories. At the Visconti crèche, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, many cradles are unoccupied due to lack of sufficient staff. On the toddler side, for example, there is an entire room that is not used, with five unoccupied cribs. The second toddler dormitory, where three toddlers sleep peacefully, has two vacant places. On the other side, among the older children, an entire room is also lifeless, and the cradles serve as boxes to store the deckchairs. “We have around fifteen places missing, because two professionals are missing, and we have no certainty about the possibility of new arrivals,” worries Myriam Lelion, the manager of the crèche.
There is a shortage of around 500 childcare assistants in municipal nurseries in Paris (around 400 if we include non-qualified staff, in this case in Paris CAP students, who can be hired since a recent decree), according to figures from the town hall, which corresponds to around 10 to 15% of unoccupied places. However, Parisians are not the most to complain about when it comes to finding a place in a crèche because the supply of cradles is colossal in the capital, which has long focused on early childhood. According to the “shortage of professionals in young child care establishments” survey published in July 2022 by the National Family Allowance Fund (Cnaf), the territory of the commune of Paris represents 9% of the national total of child care places. collective reception in young child care establishments (ECJE), with 36,696 places. But it also accounts for 39% of closures, and more than half of Ile-de-France closures with 3,680 places closed.
Quality of life
One of the first obstacles for childcare workers is the difficulty of finding accommodation, in a city where rents are expensive. With “only” three-quarters of her staff living outside Paris, Myriam Lelion considers herself almost lucky: “Most of our staff do not consider living in Paris for quality of life reasons. They want to live in bigger rooms, have more space and access to nature. »
If Paris struggles to attract qualified personnel due to the cost of living, the situation in the capital is far from isolated. It reflects a national and Ile-de-France situation, linked to the low attractiveness of the profession, demanding but benefiting from only low remuneration (1,893 euros net for the starting salary of a childcare worker). According to the national survey cited above, 48.6% of collective crèches report a lack of staff working with children. The Ile-de-France region, which has the most places, concentrates 41% of vacant positions, with three departments particularly affected: Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne and Paris, therefore, which between them account for 34% of place closures.
The four-day week being tested
While waiting for possible salary increases, announced last June but for the moment without effect at the local level, Myriam Lelion strives to make life as easy and pleasant as possible for its employees, to retain their loyalty. “We promote balance between professional and private life, by granting part-time work to professionals who request it, and giving them a large margin of autonomy. Last year we were able to benefit from a sports coach for a few months, and we set up a decoration project for the nursery. And then with the children we have meaningful projects around modern languages, an educational garden, a compost…”
To further strengthen the attractiveness of the profession, the City of Paris is preparing to experiment with a four-day week for early childhood workers, starting this fall, as the Babilou network is already doing in voluntary crèches. The experience was made possible in particular because taking into account the arduousness of the profession made it possible to reduce the annual volume of hours of agents (1,525 hours instead of 1,607). The city has also implemented a major plan to reduce the precariousness of its agents, with bonuses particularly for early childhood professions which according to it has already borne fruit, since Paris has managed to recruit 200 professionals this year, compared to around a hundred last year, i.e. a doubling of the numbers recruited, announced Education Deputy Patrick Bloche in a press conference on Thursday September 28.
As the last lever to resolve this staff shortage, Paris City Hall is focusing its efforts on training. A new Early Childhood Careers school was inaugurated in mid-September, in the 17th arrondissement, which appeared to be the least well equipped with nursery places compared to the other Parisian districts. in a newspaper ranking Le Figaro, with 2.37 children for one available place. Here too, the problem is national. “On the HR side, the regional councils have not opened enough childcare schools (the number of graduates has not changed for ten years, while the number of places has increased by 30%)” noted in May a column signed by the President of Little Red Riding Hoods, Jean-Emmanuel Rodocanachi.
Rising premiums?
Will all these measures end up resolving the serious crisis in the attractiveness of the profession that the town hall is facing, like many other municipalities? “We do not refuse our responsibilities but we call on the State to assume its own and to revalue the index scales for early childhood, we need to know if the State intends to take action,” thundered Wednesday in the Council of Paris the Human Resources assistant, Antoine Guillou. Who had warned a few days earlier: “If the government refuses to do it, let it say so, we could play on the remuneration shares”.
In fact, the professionals interviewed are more angry with the State than with the town hall. “In Paris, I have seen the efforts made for years, there is a real concern to welcome people in good conditions, to train staff. What we are missing is rather an early childhood policy at the national level, with a ministry for early childhood,” believes Myriam Lelion. Who dreams that the supervision rate will one day really be revised downwards? “With a professional for three babies and an adult for five “grown-ups” (over two years), that would be really pleasant.” Currently, the supervision ratio is on average one adult for six children. For comparison, the supervision rate in Denmark will soon be one professional for three children.