Under a blistering heat and in religious silence, the final year students work on their subject of philosophy, in one of the buildings of the Ambroise-Brugière high school, in Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme). A few meters away, on this morning of Wednesday June 15, the headmaster Richard Commeau and his management team, installed for several months in prefabricated buildings awaiting the delivery of new buildings, are working on the schedules of the comeback.
“Every year, the start of the new school year is a small miracle”, says Richard Commeau. Yet experienced in the exercise for fifteen years, the headmaster recognizes that the development of programs “Grows more complex year after year” with the baccalaureate reform. And even more with the announcement, made by Emmanuel Macron at the beginning of June, of the return of mathematics as an option from September. The SNPDEN, national union of management staff of National Education, of which Richard Commeau is one of the academic secretaries, called for this reintroduction. “But we were asking for a year to implement it,” specifies the Auvergne headmaster. Result: there are only a few weeks left for heads of establishments to readjust timetables that have been almost cast in stone for many months.
In the shade of the drawn blinds, Richard Commeau is far from having finished with his schedules. The decision to reintroduce mathematics had “the effect of a bomb” for him and his two assistant principals, Ghislaine Mege and Carine Batifol: “Since then we’ve been tearing our hair out!”
“We did not have time to properly inform the families about this option and the class councils had already passed to identify the students’ choices.”
Richard Commeau, principal at Clermont-Ferrandat franceinfo
Under these conditions, it is difficult to know precisely how many first-year students will take this option at the start of the school year. It is not easy either to fit in a time slot where all these students will be available, with a teacher who, in addition, will have had little preparation time. Because in mid-June “the program is still not released”, noted the headteacher.
For some students, who follow a high-level sports or artistic course, between training and lessons, “there isn’t even a half-hour beat in their scheduleunderlines the headmaster. It’s impossible to add this option.”
This last-minute government announcement has weakened the entire edifice built, like every year, for months. From November, the management team is working on developing the training offer with the rectorate to define the number of classes per level and the volume of hours to be provided. “And the bigger the school, like ours, the bigger the puzzle,” explains the principal.
“At this time, it is still difficult to know the choices that the second students will make for the following year and which specialty will abandon the first.”
Richard Commeauat franceinfo
In this Clermont high school, one of the largest in the region and the most complex in terms of options and specialties, 1,361 students from the general, technological, BTS and preparatory classes are expected at the start of the school year and who will have to provide 1,783.5 hours of lessons per week. “We are not allowed to exceed this figure by one minute.says the headmaster. And the vast majority of these hours are directed towards the various subjects of the common core and specialties.
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The special one “adjustment variable” is in the “hours of autonomy”calculated according to the number of classes per level, i.e. 12 hours for the second and eight hours for the first and final. “These hours will allow us to ‘finance’ options such as sign language or French for foreigners, which will also have to be integrated into the timetables.”
The second high point takes place between January and February, when human resource needs are identified and the offer of specialist teaching (EDS) is refined. “The reform of the baccalaureate has generated profound changes in the number of hours of teachers. Some go from 45 students in first to 15 in terminal”, underlines the headmaster. So “It’s a bit of a rat race, with sometimes shouting matches between teachers and negotiations to take this or that level”.
In mid-June, the teachers report their grievances in terms of planning. A final negotiation follows with the rectorate on the number of positions allocated. But we have to wait until early July to know the answers to the requests for transfers, the possible creation of positions or the deletion of classes. “Sometimes you have to redo everything according to the answers of the rectorate”anticipates the director, crossing his fingers that his requests are validated.
Despite the help of mathematical models that grind the data, the arrival of specialties has complicated the production of timetables. “Before, we could almost stick the schedule from one year to the next”, admits the headmaster.
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But today, it has become difficult to predict the bifurcations towards another course, another high school or even the abandonments of specialty. It is also impossible to establish a class by specialty. The students only have a few hours of lessons in common: French (up to first year), philosophy, history-geography and sport. “Basically, it’s great, but technically, this individualization of lessons is a real headache”deplores the head of the establishment.
“It’s over, the photocopy of the class timetable that we distributed to all the students at the start of the year. Today, it’s almost an à la carte timetable, per student. “
Ghislaine Mege, Deputy Principalat franceinfo
The principal and his two deputies must “do in the lace” to avoid gaps in students’ schedules as much as possible. Because it is the “first pedagogical act of the year, which will condition the whole year”, assures Carine Batifol. Although the school is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., it is out of the question to “to finish the seconds at 6 p.m. every evening”, she explains. Or to put one hour of philosophy, one hour of maths then two hours of physics in a row at the end of the year, or even to position art and sports lessons on Wednesday mornings: “You are sure not to see anyone!”
In September, the timetables will be scanned with a glance by the pupils and scrutinized by the teachers, because it will “color their year”, according to the principal. Finishing on Friday at noon or giving classes on Wednesday afternoon does not have the same flavor. Frédérique, who teaches English in general second, to students in the STMG technological baccalaureate (sciences and technologies of management and management) and at BTS, recognizes that it is better to have class in the morning – “students are more available” –, and prevent his students from having nine hours of lessons in the day, “because it’s counter-productive for them”.
In the midst of negotiations before their departure on vacation on July 7, the 120 or so teachers of the clermont high school are fighting to have a “Well” timetable. “For some, it’s the challenge of the year”, emphasizes Christelle, who teaches physics in 1st grade.
“A bad schedule can affect the teacher’s quality of life, for example if he has young children and works on Wednesdays or if he finishes late every evening.”
Christelle, high school teacherat franceinfo
Frédérique regrets that “reform takes precedence over teachers’ constraints” and find that “it becomes more difficult to express wishes”.
If the high school Ambroise-Brugière is, for the moment, spared by staffing problems, Richard Commeau does not exclude the risk of a return to school without the sufficient number of teachers. “Sometimes it is not until the end of August, or even after the start of the school year, that we have the arrivals of contract workers or trainee teachers”underlines the director.
In his first statement on June 14, the new Minister of National Education, Pap Ndiaye, pledged that there would be “a teacher in front of each class”, even if it means using contract teachers. Problem: impossible to entrust them with specialty courses, insists Richard Commeau, because these are lessons “complex” and there is always the risk that these teachers “leave overnight if their schedule doesn’t suit them”, according to the principal.
In a few weeks, the management team will go on vacation with a version “survival base” schedules which should allow the reception of all students at the beginning of the school year. In the meantime, Richard Commeau expects to receive a few phone calls from the rectorate or disgruntled teachers. Once the start of the school year has passed, the schedules will be refined for three weeks before being definitively fixed. He anticipates, again: “We will then have a month to breathe before starting the schedules for the following year…”