The deputies start the debates on Wednesday afternoon around the revaluation of teachers’ salaries, before the announcement of measures by the Minister of National Education within ten days. Who will be affected and under what conditions?
The deputies began Wednesday, April 5, at the request of the group La France insoumise, the debates around the revaluation of teachers’ salaries, in the National Assembly. The Minister ofEnational education Pap Ndiaye has promised measures on this subject since his arrival. Expected for several months, he is supposed to announce them within ten days. The outline of the project is already known.
1 Which teachers will be affected by this upgrading?
There are two parts to this plan to raise teachers’ salaries. First, an increase for all teachers, without conditions. This is the so-called “base” part, which will depend on the level of seniority. We do not yet know the details of the amounts. The stated goal of Pap Ndiaye was already that of his predecessor Jean-Michel Blanquer: that no teacher begins his career with less than 2,000 euros.
The second part is the most controversial: the “pact” component, i.e. a bonus in exchange for additional and optional missions. If a teacher chooses to enroll in this pact, he undertakes to work 72 hours more over the year, two hours a week, and will receive a bonus of 3,750 euros gross for this.
2 For what additional tasks?
In college and high school, it will be necessary in particular to ensure short-term replacements. If the mathematics teacher is absent, instead of leaving the students permanently, the English teacher will take this lesson hour to advance his subject. This is the main mission of this device. Pap Ndiaye wants to kill two birds with one stone: to offer additional money to teachers while minimizing lost learning hours due to absences. For school teachers, these overtime hours could be used in particular to provide support in maths and French, in 6th grade classes, another measure proposed by the minister.
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In the organization that is imagined for the moment, it will be possible to take only part of the pact, a third, or two thirds with less overtime to do and a lower bonus. A global envelope of 300 million euros is planned for this pact, for the next school year, one billion euros in a full year, from 2024.
3 How are these measures received by teachers?
The unions are upwind against this pact. The last meeting, in March, ended abruptly: all the organizations left the room. The announcements, originally scheduled for mid-March, are postponed to mid-April, this is what Pap Ndiaye promised earlier this week.
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What the unions regret is that in this pact, we are talking about new missions but the tasks already carried out such as the work involved in supporting students with disabilities, projects outside of class hours and outings are not remunerated. This pact risks aggravating the inequalities between teachers, also point out the unions: between men and women, who already do less overtime, and between secondary and primary teachers.