This year again, we are dramatically short of teachers. In fact, there is a shortage of more than 3,800 as I write these lines, one week before the start of classes. And nearly 30,000 people are teaching in our schools without a certificate.
I said it, I say it again: it is a real national tragedy.
Causes
We do not, unfortunately, have a clear, complete and credible picture of what caused this situation. But I suggest that all people of good faith will agree that the following explains it in part.
Teaching has always been a demanding profession. There is something about it that is more of a vocation than a simple profession.
To teach is to put oneself at the service of the community, to become a transmitter of important knowledge and — as Russell so aptly put it — a guardian of civilization.
Teaching is therefore serving a high ideal, which surpasses all of us. By devoting oneself to it, one hopes that the community attaches immense importance to it and is grateful for what one accomplishes.
There is probably some truth in the idea that these ideals and the recognition of their crucial importance are somewhat in decline, or at least mistreated, in a world where the intrinsic value of all that I have just named is declining in proportion to the increase in its instrumental value. Education inevitably suffers from this, and with it, those who uphold it.
It goes without saying that a three-tier school and the presence of a largely subsidized private sector make the situation even worse, and we can see this very concretely on the ground in the composition of the class. The profession then becomes less attractive. Still on the subject of the composition of the class, add to that new difficulties linked to the effects of social media and screens on young people; do not forget these helicopter parents who do not miss an opportunity to accuse the teacher of everything and nothing; add again this great and noble ideal that we have pursued of including everyone in the ordinary class, but without the significant resources and professionals necessary to do so having followed, and you have a pretty good idea of the factors that have undoubtedly contributed to the lack of teachers that we know.
But all this, I fear, hides things from us that we should talk about calmly and that we sometimes seem to want to ignore or pass over in silence.
Here are four. If we were serious about finding solutions, we would demand clarification of what happened in each of these cases.
Other avenues to explore
First topic. In 1994, in a move that I have never hesitated to describe as purely clientelist and which, within the university and the world of education, denied the importance of what these institutions should nevertheless embody — knowledge — the certificate that allowed, in one year, graduates in disciplines taught in secondary schools (holders of bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees and sometimes even doctorates, I can testify) to access teaching was put an end to. Can we go back on that? Ask ourselves how this could have happened? Look at what consequences this decision had, particularly on the shortage of teachers?
Second subject. A number that I know of that is not precisely known of people who begin education studies to become teachers and do not finish them. We need to know how many of them there are and why they drop out. What do they think of the training they received? Let’s take advantage of this to ask questions about subjects that should be known to anyone who teaches, but that strong rumors assure are little or poorly disseminated in education faculties. Have they been told about it? How? These questions deserve to be asked, especially when we learn that even future teachers are taught falsehoods! A disturbing article on this subject was published in the journal Mind, Brain, and Education.
Third topic. It is estimated that a quarter of people with a teaching degree leave the profession in their first years of practice. Is this number accurate? But in any case, and even if it is a little less, imagine if this happened in medicine or in other professions taught at university. What happened? The factors mentioned above probably play a role, and others as well. Which ones? How? We need to know why these people leave the profession.
Fourth topic. There are issues that have become very difficult to discuss. Among them, immigration and asylum seekers and their effects on class composition. But this can play a role in explaining the national drama we are experiencing. Let us not forget this and ask the questions that need to be addressed.
Launching a research group on all these topics is an essential step.
Urgently.