“Will he find his place at school?” “,” Will he be helped on a daily basis? »… These are the questions parents of students with disabilities ask themselves at the start of the school year. The schooling of these children was discussed on Monday, a dozen ministers having met in Matignon around Jean Castex, for the 5th interministerial committee of the handicap (CIH) of this mandate.
In September, more than 400,000 students with disabilities will attend school. And they will have 125,500 accompanying persons with disabilities (AESH), since 4,000 additional will be recruited. A figure welcomed by the Ministry of Education, stressing that their number increased by 35% between 2017 and 2021. But according to Nicolas Eglin, president of the National Federation of associations serving students with disabilities (Fnaseph) , this increase in AESH is not always seen in the field: “Notifications from the departmental houses of disabled people [courriers qui spécifient le nombre d’heures d’accompagnement auxquelles l’élève à droit] are not always respected. Because the AESH are sometimes on sick leave and new requests for student support fall throughout the year ”.
The number of hours of support still too variable
Same story with Arnaud de Broca, president of the Collectif HandicapS, which represents 49 associations: “We can welcome the unprecedented effort, but schooling is still a lure for disabled children at each start of the school year”, he underlines. “Some will still make their return shifted, for lack of accompanying”, also anticipates Jean-Louis Garcia, president of the federation APAJH (Association for adults and young people with disabilities). For Caroline Boudet, mother of Louise, a carrier of Down’s syndrome *, the account is not there either: “We would really like to understand why the number of hours of human assistance for students with the same handicap can differ enormously between departments – which all concerned parents know very well ”.
And if the AESH changed status – they went from subsidized contracts to three-year fixed-term contracts renewable once and convertible into permanent contracts – only 5% are currently on permanent contracts. Their remuneration is always unattractive, which does not always make it possible to retain them. As for the Pial (inclusive localized support center), which organize the work of the AESH to distribute them according to the needs and timetables of the students concerned, they will be further developed. But are not unanimous. “Their operation is very disparate. We plead for them to be on a human scale and for them to manage only about thirty AESHs ”, indicates Nicolas Eglin.
A training effort that remains to be confirmed
For the government, the month of September should sign another improvement: from the start of the school year, “all new teachers will be systematically trained in inclusive school (a 25-hour module)”, recalled Jean-Michel Blanquer. In addition, a 60-hour training course is planned for all new AESHs, and teachers already in place will be able, like every year, to be trained in this topic. According to the ministry, the number of continuing education courses on the education of disabled students has also increased by two and a half since 2017.
An effort which is all the same to be tempered, according to Caroline Boudet: “Mentalities do not change as quickly as official speeches. With regard to our daughter, for example, who is only in the large nursery section, we have already felt a strong pressure to direct her to a specialized environment, even as we are considering a schooling system in Ulis ”. Nicolas Eglin also remains cautious: “Some training courses provided at AESH are not always of high quality. And we will have to be vigilant about the content of the training offered by the Inspé (Higher National Institute for Teaching and Education) to new teachers. As for continuing education, a minimum number of hours devoted to inclusive schooling should be imposed, and not wait for the teacher to request it ”.