The Ministry of National Education, which points to a drop in the number of students linked to demographics, has planned to cut nearly 1,200 teaching posts at the start of the 2023 school year, particularly in primary education.
“It’s a real bloodletting”, denounce the trade unions. At the next September 2023 intake, 1,165 teaching positions will be abolished in public education. The Ministry of National Education justified this decision in mid-December to the unions by pointing to the drop in school demography.
Enough to provoke the anger of a large part of the educational community and parents of students, who have been multiplying actions in front of establishments and rectorates for a few weeks. The consequences of these job cuts, which differ according to the levels, are numerous. In the first degree, they will directly lead to class closures, decided at the departmental level since the beginning of the year. In college and high school, it is the envelopes of hours given to each establishment – the global hourly allocations (DHG) – which are affected.
According to the figures revealed by the ministry at the end of 2022, and which franceinfo was able to consult, public schools should lose nearly 64,000 students at the start of the 2023 school year, a drop of 1.15% compared to the start of the school year last September. The decrease in secondary will however be much less significant than in primary, with only 840 fewer students next fall.
It is partly in the face of this observation, and to stick as closely as possible to the needs, that the ministry announced the abolition of positions in many academies. A total of 667 primary school teaching posts and 498 secondary school teaching posts will be affected. The Paris academy is the most affected, with 337 full-time positions cut (155 in primary and 182 in secondary), followed by that of Lille (310) and Normandy (204).
An unprecedented bleeding “for at least ten years” in the primary
In schools, the mobilization to denounce these job cuts is of a magnitude “unpublished”declares Guislaine David, general co-secretary and spokesperson for Snuipp-FSU, the majority primary union. Because, unlike the second degree, “We had not seen such a high number of job cuts for at least ten years”, she specifies. Alongside the teachers, the parents of students are especially worried about the closures of the classes generated.
As such, in Creuse, several schools mobilized at the end of February to contest the possible closure of 19 classes, including two schools, according to the school map project presented by the academic director of the department’s national education services. In Paris, the federations are also angry, and some elected officials like Deputy Mayor David Belliard even took part in the cohort in mid-February. “The government must explain its choices”, advances Sylvaine Baehrel, president of the FCPE Paris. A session of negotiations with the rectorate must take place on Monday March 6 to discuss these deletions, in the presence of the trade unions, the associations of parents of students and the town hall of Paris.
Contacted by franceinfo, the ministry explains that beyond the demographic argument, the distribution of resources for the start of the 2023 school year has been calculated according to several criteria, in order to rebalance between territories historically “over-endowed” and others “under-endowed” for several years. This is why the number of teachers will increase in the first degree in the academies of Versailles, Créteil, Nice, in Guyana or in Montpellier. While the Paris Academy, among others, will lose a hundred positions in kindergarten and primary. But for Sylvaine Baehrel, this justification is not understandable. “We are made to feel guilty, but in the end, we are still not giving sufficient resources to the departments that need them the most”she laments.
In Paris, “a real shortage”
Sophie Vénétitay, secretary general of Snes-FSU, the main union for secondary school teachers, also believes that the argument of the demographic decline “is not one”. The Ministry “instrumentalise” these figures to justify a drop in resources, according to her. On the contrary, many teachers and parents of students regret that the government did not take advantage of the windfall of this drop in staff to improve teaching conditions in many establishments. “We could have seized this opportunity to develop an ambitious policy for public schools”regrets Sylvaine Baehrel.
“This decision to cut posts is synonymous with renunciation; renunciation of having a public service that allows access to quality education.”
Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSUat franceinfo
The reduction in staff could in particular have made it possible to resuscitate the teams of substitute teachers. “In Paris, we are facing a real shortage”, says Léa de Boisseuil. The academic co-secretary of the Snuipp-FSU of Paris estimates that, according to the calculations of the union, “between 80 and 90 classes per day are not replaced” in the capital.
These job cuts are also likely to lead to the disappearance of specific measures, which can no longer be provided correctly, such as the splitting of classes or courses with reduced numbers in colleges, according to Jean-François Caremel, academic secretary of the Snes-FSU of Lille. “The training offer in establishments will be impoverished”abounds the union official, who cites in particular the example of high schools finding themselves obliged to reduce the number of specialties offered to students for the baccalaureate. “Certain sections of BTS may also be at risk”he adds.
Classes always overcrowded
“With these posts less”class numbers, already just in time in many establishments, will mainly “inevitably increase”, assures Sophie Vénétitay. This is already the case in the North, where establishments are brought, “for three years”to inflate the number of students per class to compensate for the lack of means, “including in the most disadvantaged colleges” who benefited from the duplication system, explains Jean-François Caremel. “In high schools, we are already at 35 students per class. Beyond that, it becomes unimaginable.”
In the capital, the average number of pupils per class in primary school is 19.9, which is one of the lowest in the territory (the national average is 21.7). But “it remains above the European average” (19 students per class on average in elementary school), replies Sylvaine Baehrel, who deplores “that we did not seize the opportunity to get even closer” optimal classroom conditions.
A regret also expressed in rural areas, where the abolition of a class can quickly have harmful consequences in small establishments. “We already find ourselves with classes with two or three levels, which is not good for the children”believes Guislaine David.
For the first degree, the academies must submit the final versions of their school map before the end of March. The rectorate of Lille specifies to franceinfo that adjustments will be possible from the start of the school year concerning the closures of classes announced, “following recounts of the workforce”. In secondary school, requests for a hearing can also be made in order to rediscuss the resources allocated with the rectorate.