“One in four teachers” signed the pact aimed at entrusting teachers with new missions in exchange for additional remuneration, said Thursday evening Gabriel Attal, to the surprise of the unions, some of whom criticized “DIY” and sometimes blackmail “.
“As I speak, one teacher in four has signed and committed to the pact. It’s even one in three in middle and vocational high schools,” declared the Minister of Education on the set of TF1’s 8 p.m. news. “It continues to rise,” he added. This “tool”, argued the minister, “makes it possible to better pay teachers who replace colleagues who are absent”. He “thanked” the signatories of this pact.
Unions “surprised” by these figures
Among the missions “most chosen” by school teachers, we include “success courses during school holidays and the hour of support in French/maths in 6th grade”, the Ministry of Education was told. Education. For their part, many middle and high school teachers are involved in “short-term replacement and homework help”, the same source said.
“We are very surprised by the figures given by the minister: they seem very high compared to the observations that can be made on the ground,” reacted to AFP Bruno Bobkiewicz, general secretary of SNPDEN-Unsa, the first union heads of establishments.
“Collective allergy”
The SNPDEN-Unsa had affirmed in mid-September that no teacher pact was then signed in 30% of middle and high schools, its general secretary speaking of “a collective allergy” to the approach proposed by the government.
In unison, Sophie Venetitay, general secretary of SNES-FSU, the first secondary education union (middle and high schools), also declared herself “very perplexed” on Thursday evening about the minister’s figures and about “the way in which they been obtained.” “It’s institutional tinkering,” she said. In addition, “we know that in certain places, there is blackmail of the pact: if the teacher does not sign it, he will not be able to organize school trips,” she denounced to AFP.
Promised by President Emmanuel Macron during his campaign, the teachers’ pact, which provides for salary increases conditional on new missions, struggled to be put in place for the start of the school year, with unions denouncing its vagueness and the haste of the ministry.
The previous Minister of Education, Pap Ndiaye, said before the summer holidays – and before the reshuffle – “completely confident” about having at least 30% of teachers signatories, necessary for ensure replacements.
Up to 3,750 euros gross increase per year
In middle and high schools, the new missions must in particular allow “the systematic replacement of absent teachers” for short periods, a priority mission for the ministry. Modular, it is broken down into three units of 1,250 euros gross, which can lead to an increase of up to 3,750 euros gross per year if a teacher takes three.
Other missions offered: participation in the “homework done” system (to do homework in college), in success courses during the holidays or, for primary school teachers, in the weekly hour of support in the 6th grade class, created at the start of the school year for French and maths.
A low level of adherence to the pact would put “establishment heads in difficulty because announcements made to the general public which are based on the pact, such as short-term replacements or even homework done, will not be able to be made correctly if there are no volunteers,” the main union of school heads warned in mid-September.
Faced with the pact, if some teachers have shown “a lot of reluctance” because “they have the impression that their status is being called into question”, others have volunteered, in particular for help to students in difficulty or for successful internships, due to “lack of purchasing power”, according to testimonies collected before the holidays.