The proposals of the Court of Auditors to reduce the number of lessons not provided by teachers leave “doubtful” Sophie Vénétitay, professor of economic and social sciences, and general secretary of SNES-FSU, the first union for middle and high school teachers. Invited by franceinfo on Thursday 2 December, she believes that these suggestions “will not help students from a strictly pedagogical point of view”. The magistrates of the Court of Auditors propose, in a report published on Thursday, to promote replacements between colleagues from the same establishment, or to encourage teachers to record their lessons on video, broadcast to students in the event of absence.
The Court of Auditors estimates that nearly 10% of course hours were lost in middle and high school, during the 2018-2019 school year. She points out that, when a college or high school teacher is absent for a short period (less than 15 days), only one hour in five is actually provided by a substitute teacher. In addition, the report notes that in two thirds of cases, the teacher’s absence is due to service obligations: training, an educational meeting, participation in an examination board, or the closure of his establishment, such as during the bac and patent exams. Absences for illness or personal reasons are in the minority according to the Court of Auditors, and lower, in proportion, than those of private sector employees and other civil servants.
franceinfo: 10% of class hours are lost in college and high school, according to the Court of Auditors. Is this normal?
Sophie Vénétitay: This covers extremely different realities. There are teachers’ absences linked to the disease, but from this point of view, teachers are less absent than the average of civil servants, and even than the average of private employees, [comme le confirme la Cour des comptes]. Then you have absences due to obligations related to our profession. We are going to train for a day on the new programs. We are going to participate in meetings. All these types of absences accumulate.
These absences due to service obligations represent two-thirds of the cases. Why do these meetings and training sessions not take place outside of teaching time, rather than during class time, in front of the students?
It turns out that the teachers’ schedule actually consists of lessons in front of the students. But there are also a number of things that we do outside of the face-to-face with the students. The total working time of teachers is estimated at 42h53 [41h17 en 2010, dans la dernière enquête réalisée par le ministère de l’Education nationale]. We already have a very long working time, longer than the average. And we must never forget that, for example, when we go to training, it is also in the interest of the students. We are going to learn about new things and when we come back to class, we have also made progress for our students.
The Court of Auditors suggests, for example, that absent teachers record a video for their students. Is it a good idea ?
It leaves me very doubtful to register and then leave our students in front of a video.
“I have my doubts whether the students will be able to stand an hour in front of a video of a teacher’s monologue.”
Sophie Vénétitay, professor of SES, and general secretary of SNES-FSUto franceinfo
Especially when we have seen, since the start of the health crisis, and the first confinement, that what we were doing through a video was not necessarily the most relevant from a pedagogical point of view.
Another avenue: give more autonomy to establishments, to encourage replacements between colleagues. Can this reduce this figure of 10% of uninsured courses?
From a strictly accounting point of view, it can help to lower the figure. But I look at it from a pedagogical point of view, from my students. If I am asked, for example, to replace one of my colleagues in economics and social sciences overnight in my high school, I will discover a new class. I’m going to have to start, let’s admit, chapter 3. These are not things you can improvise. This means that in front of the students, we are not in a position to really give a course that will bring them anything. If it is more like a form of daycare than a course, then we are still very far from the mark. And I notice that the Court of Auditors, at no time, does not speak of the means put into the replacement of teachers.