If Emmanuel Macron praised Wednesday the increase in the number of students with disabilities in classes, the quantitative assessment cannot be the only indicator of the success of inclusive school.
He claims to have conducted a “silent revolution” for school inclusion. During the sixth National Disability Conference (CNH), Wednesday, April 26, Emmanuel Macron praised the policy pursued by his government concerning disability and school. “Today we have 430,000 students with disabilities who are in school (…) Never before have there been so many disabled children in school”said the head of state. According to a report According to the General Inspectorate for Education, Sport and Research, this figure has more than tripled in nearly twenty years (134,000 in 2004).
But the quantitative argument is not, for all that, synonymous with quality. To the point that the school today is not as inclusive as required the law of 2005. This reference text on the rights of people with disabilities confirms the principle of inclusion rather than integration. Clearly, we consider that a child “with special educational needs” is a pupil like the others and that it is up to the educational staff to adapt.
The schooling of a child or adolescent with a disability in an ordinary class is not always systematic: the Departmental House for People with Disabilities (MDPH) can also decide to refer them to a medico-social establishment. Emmanuel Macron also admits that “we are not up to the ideal of equality that we have engraved on the pediment of the Republic.” A way to hear the severe opinion of the Council of Europe issued in mid-April? The European Committee of Social Rights (CEDS) has in fact criticized France for not effectively remedying the problems linked to the inclusion of students with disabilities.
AESH, an “invisible and abandoned” profession
How to explain that France is reprimanded, while access to schooling for people with disabilities has greatly increased in recent years? The answer lies essentially in the lack of training, time and recognition towards those accompanying disabled students (AESH) and teachers. A report by the Defender of Rights, published in August 2022explains it in its introduction: “The main difficulty relates to the human accompaniment which relies on the accompanying persons of students with disabilities.”
Nassera works as an AESH in a primary school in the Loire and denounces “an invisible and abandoned trade”. “The profession is going badly and everyone is suffering: us, the teachers, the parents and of course the children”laments the fifty-year-old. Since her debut in 2011, she has not benefited from any continuous training. There is, however, a 60-hour job adaptation training, but it is considered insufficient by the profession. “We are called upon to support students with very different needs: dysorthographia, attention disorders, difficulty moving around…”, lists Manuel Guyader, AESH and representing SUD Education.
“We should have permanent training because our work requires constant questioning.”
Manuel Guyader, SUD Education representativeat franceinfo
Another problem: many AESH (the profession is very largely female) take up their post in an establishment even before having received any teaching in the matter. “Training sometimes starts five months later, so we train ourselves”indignant Manuel Guyader.
“We need time to bond”
Despite numerous strikes and demonstrations in recent years, AESH are still subject to a precarious status. State agents, they work around twenty hours a week and receive around 800 euros per month. “Some combine with another job because they have no choice, but they are exhausted”, explains Nassira. In a series of announcements, Emmanuel Macron promised that the AESH who wish could precisely switch to 35 hours from the start of the 2023 school year.
The Head of State specified that this support could extend outside of school time, such as during catering or help with homework. “It’s contempt! We add extra-curricular hours for a mini-bonus salary, when our job is already exhausting”, to sorry Nassera. For Manuel Guyader, it would even be “a huge setback”.
“The only solution to this incomplete time is to recognize that it is the equivalent of full time because we also have working hours outside the classroom.”
Manuel Guyader, SUD Education representativefranceinfo
In the sights of the AESH, there are also the inclusive localized support centers (Pial), created in 2019 and responsible for better distributing the intervention of the AESH in each territory. “We are walked from left to right. Before, I had 8 hours to accompany a pupil. Now, we have many more children and few hours for each of them. However, to help them, we need to create a link, and therefore time”recalls Nassera.
Lack of resources and overcrowded classes
If the number of AESH has increased by 42% in five years (132,000 professionals), the educational staff still notes a strong shortage. “Students find themselves without AESH for several months. At the start of the year, we therefore saw parents of students resorting to the private sector”warns Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSU, secondary school union.
“We have students who do not have a computer. They find themselves on the waiting list when it clearly corresponds to a need for them”adds Manuel Guyader. Not to mention the overcrowded classes, which do not allow optimal support for students with disabilities.
“30-35 students in middle and high school classes, it has become a norm… We want a reduction in the number of staff, and even more when there is a situation of inclusion.”
Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSUfranceinfo
In the first degree, Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday the establishment of a “disability referent teacher”. But for Guislaine David, spokesperson and co-secretary general of SNUipp-FSU, this mission “does not respond to the difficulties encountered in the classes”. Few explanations have also been given on the contours of this new cap.
A specialization of certain teachers?
Like the AESH, the teaching body considers itself largely powerless in the face of certain situations. “I had a pupil in CM1 who had been detected from the big section as having behavioral problems. His care was the responsibility of a Therapeutic, Educational and Pedagogical Institute (Itep), but there was no place. He regularly exploded in class, threw chairs, hit other students and insulted me. It was a pain for everyone”, relates Guislaine David.
Rose*, 25 years old, benefited from a master’s degree in inclusion training of around 25 hours. She regrets an overly theoretical approach. “We should go much deeper, in particular through observation courses in the Ulis class. [unités localisées pour l’inclusion scolaire] or in Iteps. There, we teach in class without having a concrete idea of what disability is, ” testifies the one who became a teacher in 2021. More than in-depth training for all teachers, the unions are campaigning for specialization for certain teachers in ordinary classes. “We also need more psychologists and school nurses”explains Guislaine David.
At school, the satisfactory number of students with disabilities is therefore only the tree that hides the forest. As Sophie Vénétitay points out, to the attention of the Head of State: “To choose this angle is to ignore the working conditions of adults and the repercussions on children.”
*The first name has been changed at the request of the interlocutor.