Three days before the start of the school year, this Thursday, the Paris Academy takes stock of the situation of its schools, colleges and high schools. From now on “the priority goes to nursery schools, in order to fight against social determinism”, explains Christophe Kerrero, rector of the academic region of Ile-de-France. The rectorate seeks to develop several innovative projects to develop its pedagogy, at a time when “the school of the Republic is no longer up to it” according to Emmanuel Macron.
Particular attention is also paid to secondary school classes, where the shortage of teachers is particularly felt. A thousand contract workers have been recruited to teach in colleges and high schools in Ile-de-France.
innovations
At the Paris Academy, the start of the 2022 school year rhymes with innovation. The rectorate responds to the call of the Minister of Education, last Thursday, to launch innovative projects. For primary school pupils, the rectorate’s ambition is to create “the Montessori school of the 21st century”. Its “Maternal Cap” project aims to take advantage of the work of researchers working on the brain plasticity of children to develop pedagogy. Five establishments in the capital have volunteered to experiment with new teaching practices.
In higher education, the rectorate opens a professional path of excellence. “It’s about showing that it’s a path of possibilities, and also a path of excellence,” says Christophe Kerrero. The vocational route is experiencing renewed attractiveness with 380 additional students for the start of the 2022 school year.
More social mix in high school
“We cannot be satisfied with hearing at each new school year that the Paris academy is the most segregated in France”, declares the rector of the academic region of Ile-de-France. In 2020, the social segregation index of Parisian high schools was 1.2 times higher than the national average, and the school segregation index 4.8 times higher. To remedy this, the academy has implemented the reform of the assignment in general and technological second class. “Results in this direction are confirmed,” says Christophe Kerrero.
“We see that families are asking for high schools to which they would not have applied before”, adds Claire Mazeron, academic director of the national education services (DASEN). Student applications for the low social position index increased by 87% for Lycée Henri IV, and by 72% at Louis Le Grand. The so-called high schools of excellence (Henri IV, Louis le Grand, Voltaire and Paul Valéry in particular) are the first targeted by this reform. The rate of scholarship holders is also on the rise in these high schools, it is now 16.3% at Henri IV and 25.6% at Louis le Grand.
Teaching lacking in attractiveness
“The first problem we encounter in welcoming students with disabilities is to have enough candidates for the post of AESH,” says Antoine Destrès, director of the Paris Academy. The rectorate is struggling to recruit accompanying persons for students with disabilities (AESH). Aware of the lack of attractiveness of the profession, he affirms that “several levers are activated to motivate applications”. Coupling the activity of the AESH with that of the extracurricular time facilitators is particularly envisaged.
The teachers’ competition was no more successful. In the midst of a shortage of teachers, the academy could not draw from the additional list of the teacher recruitment competition. “The number of candidates was too low, there was no additional list this year,” explains the director of the academy. He recalls, however, that no teaching post has been cut while school demography is decreasing considerably. At the start of the 2021 school year, classes had 6,500 fewer students than the previous year. This year, they will experience a further drop of 3,500 students.
More than a thousand contract workers recruited
Last week, the Minister of Education Pap Ndiaye promised “a teacher in front of each class”, at the start of the school year. To keep this promise, the rectorate of Paris has recruited 207 contract workers for the first degree classes, and a thousand in the secondary. “A third of these people have already taught and have received positive feedback from inspectors,” explains Christophe Kerrero. These were assigned to classes. »
For those who, on the contrary, have just been recruited, a “tailor-made” program has been established according to their background, he adds. Some will be required to do replacements over long periods, others will be accompanied and trained by other teachers. “In some disciplines, we risk running out of teachers during the year,” concedes the rector of the academy, citing in particular the subject of eco-management. The rectorate nevertheless wants to be reassuring, and maintains that the lack of teachers will not be felt more than in previous years.