The organization of additional missions to obtain a bonus, in addition to the salary increase promised Thursday by the Head of State, leaves part of the teaching world perplexed.
After the announcements of Emmanuel Macron, Thursday, April 20, during a trip to Hérault on the increase in salaries for teachers, the government boasts of making an unprecedented increase for more than 30 years. We are talking about an increase of 100 to 230 euros net each month, for everyone. The unions, for their part, denounce the fact that this is far from materializing the presidential promise of Emmanuel Macron who promised 10% increase for all.
>> Education: “We need a small third of volunteer teachers” for short-term replacements, says Pap Ndiaye
But there is also a conditional part, an annual bonus in exchange for additional missions to be carried out. This “pact for teachers” can go up to 500 euros net per month for “early career teachers benefiting from the salary increase” and that “engage in three complementary missions”specifies the Ministry of National Education.
What is the “pact” offered to teachers for remuneration?
The very operation of this famous “pact” is very complex. It is divided into three categories of assignments: each teacher can decide to opt for one, two or three assignments, each of which is paid 1,250 euros gross over the year.
But there are 18-hour assignments, throughout the year, such as supporting 6th graders and replacing colleagues. There are also other missions, 24 hours this time, for help with homework, internships during the holidays. But in this second category, there could also be the missions of the first, if in the establishment they are not fully covered.
It may sound complex, but it’s not over. There are missions that cannot be quantified in hours: becoming a referent for students with special needs, or a coordinator of educational projects.
How will these missions be able to fit into the schedules?
For school leaders, the device is likely to be a big headache. On paper, we know very well how the replacements between colleagues, in colleges and high schools, will work. If the English teacher, for example, is absent, the math teacher takes that hour, instead of the students going all the time. But the idea is that afterwards, the maths teacher “gives back” this hour to the English teacher. Provided that the teacher in question is available, that the slots match. A mechanism difficult to achieve, when we already know the complexity for the heads of establishments to carry out the timetables, in particular since the reform of the high school. Pap Ndiaye, the Minister of Education, himself admits that it will take several weeks, even several months, for this to be really effective.
Questions also concerning primary school teachers. One of the missions that the ministry provides for them in this pact is support courses in colleges, for 6th graders. But on what time slots? At school, classes generally end around 4:30 p.m. By the time everyone leaves, to tidy up the class, what time will the teachers be able to arrive at the college?
Another question mark: the vocational high school. The teachers will have specific missions, but the outlines of which are not yet known at all.
What happens if too many teachers refuse the “pact”?
Last unknown: the Ministry of National Education is counting on a third of teachers leaving for this pact. This is what Pap Ndiaye summed up on France Inter on Friday: National Education needs “of a small third of volunteer teachers” for short-term replacements. To facilitate the implementation of these replacements from the start of the next school year, the Minister is advancing the implementation in place “a certain number of technical and IT means”, as for example the development “of software to allow heads of establishments to instantly know what [professeur] is available” for short-term replacement.
It remains to be seen whether a “little third” teachers will volunteer for this “pact”, as Pap Ndiaye hopes. If this is not the case, what becomes of the planned envelope of 1 billion euros? The question is currently unanswered.