“The devil is in the details”estimated Thursday, August 11 on franceinfo the secretary general of the SNES-FSU Sophie Vénetitay after the announcement of the possibility for educational assistants (AED) in colleges and high schools to sign a permanent contract after six years of CDD.
The work and engagement of education assistants is now secure.
Thanks to this decree signed by the @governmentFRthey will have the possibility, after 6 years of practice, to sign a permanent contract.➡️ https://t.co/DfrruYkgri
— Pap Ndiaye (@PapNdiaye) August 11, 2022
“Not all AEDs will automatically switch to CDI” and “there is no prospect of salary progression”she regrets. “The priority is to recruit AEDs, to pay them better and to secure their future by facilitating preparation for competitions or by facilitating the recognition of experience.”
franceinfo: Do you agree with the Minister of National Education who considers that “the work and commitment of educational assistants are now secure”?
Sophie Venetitay: We feel that there is the will to fight against the precariousness of AEDs. But as often, as always besides in National Education, the devil nestles in the details since all the AED which will arrive at the end of these six years will not all automatically pass in CDI. Moreover, in the decree that came out today, there is no prospect of salary progression for the future. Above all, an AED who would go on a permanent contract would have all his credits for hours of university or professional training removed. It is difficult to understand why, even though a certain number of them are destined for jobs in the National Education system, whether as principal education adviser or teacher.
Your priority is the revaluation of wages?
Yes, this is clearly one of the priorities for the DEAs. You know, when you are a teacher, you know that there is an absolutely essential place in a college and a high school, it is school life.
“We saw during the Covid crisis, to what extent the AEDs played an essential role. They were the ones who did all the contact tracing. Their missions expanded and they ended up cracking under the weight of the missions, but also because there are not enough of them.”
Sophie Vénetitay, SNES-FSUat franceinfo
So, today, the priority is really to recruit AEDs but also to pay them better and to secure their future by facilitating their preparation for competitions or by facilitating the recognition of experience so that it can be a springboard to get out of precariousness.
More broadly, in what state of mind do you approach the first return to school of your new Minister of Education Pap Ndiaye?
It is true that it is a return to school with a new minister, but we also have the impression of a very great continuity with what Jean-Michel Blanquer was able to do. We see that the start of the school year is once again looming with recruitment problems. The Minister assures us that there will be a teacher in front of each class at the start of the school year. We are still quite perplexed by this assertion given the way the rectorates have been tinkering throughout the summer to recruit. And then afterwards, there will also be the question of substitute teachers throughout the rest of the year. The Minister will very quickly have to move on to acts of rupture, that he commit to raising the salaries of all teachers, not just novice teachers, and that he take very strong actions to finally renew the link with the teaching world.