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An 'un-teachable' new syllabus
Jean-François (pictured right) teaches history and geography at the Newton Lycée (upper school from age 15 to 18, equivalent to Years 11-13 in the UK) in Clichy-la-Garenne, a deprived inner Paris suburb that has seen riots in the past. He grapples with the new syllabus for his subjects every day. "With the introduction of new topics in history and new notions in geography, the volume is not just idiotic, it is unbelievable. It's un-teachable, too long and complicated, especially given the time allocated," he said.
And now the baccalaureate exam in history for pupils specialising in science is to be taken at the end of the penultimate year of upper school (Première, equivalent to UK Year 12 or Lower Sixth) and no longer in the final year (Terminale). "The questions will undoubtedly be simple to make sure there isn't wholesale failure. And we will all go on as if nothing had happened."
But things could have been done differently. "It wasn't properly thought through and there was no consultation with teachers, it had to be done quickly. This is typical of the present government - imposing ideological reforms by force."
Jean-François says he manages without too much difficulty, as his class is receptive and the pupils pleasant. And like all the teachers Mediapart met in the demonstration, he says he loves his job. But even so, he says, he could be pushed into leaving it. He is fed up with the way schools are treated and says teachers are "the worst-treated public servants."
"It's the first time I have ever considered changing direction. And I am struck by how many colleagues I hear saying that they are fed up and want to change jobs."
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Handicapped pupils losing out
At nearly 50, Isabelle (pictured left) has been teaching since 1980 and knows the job well. She began to specialise in working with handicapped children a few years ago and has a special class at a school in Sarcelles, a not-very-leafy outer Paris suburb. She has 12 pupils in her class aged from 7 to 12.
She says things are getting worse. Her pupils would usually be able to go into ordinary classes for a few hours, but the ordinary classes are short of places and find it increasingly hard to take the handicapped pupils in.
Isabelle is also worried about what is happening with auxiliary personnel. Both their numbers and their level of qualification are going down. "I've got an auxiliary in my class. She has no training and is paid 900 euros per month for a 32-hour week."
And there is the constant adding to the syllabus. "They talk about personalising teaching, but it can't be done on a daily basis."
In Sarcelles, she says, where 40% of homes are headed by single parents, 70% of housing is in the public sector and parents frequently work unsocial hours, children are the main victims of the crisis. "In the end, children from poorer suburbs are particularly disadvantaged."
Christine, who is headmistress of a pre-school (école maternelle, ages 3-5, equivalent to UK nursery, reception and Year 1) with six classes at Argenteuil, an outer Paris suburb, faces the same problem. The assistant who helps her with administrative work is due to leave at the end of October and will not be replaced.
On top of that, the school is missing one auxiliary assistant, which means that one of the four handicapped children at the school gets no special assistance. "We manage as best as we can, and when we can, we take one auxiliary and put her with that child. But that child does not have proper stimulation. And that's in a class of 27 pupils where even learning reading and writing is not a simple affair," she said.
The school doctor is non-existent, and the peripatetic teachers who are supposed to advise school teachers on handling pupils with difficulties have simply disappeared, she says.
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Schools 'run like companies'
Florian (pictured, left), 29, spent four years in a lycée before teaching history and geography in a middle school (collège) in Montreuil, an inner Paris suburb. This year his subjects are no longer taught to final-year science students in lycées, who will now take their history and geography baccalaureate exam a year earlier.
It is a change for him to teach in a middle school. "It implies longer preparation time for lessons. The pupils have not yet reached an age where they are blasé, but you have to work to get them interested," he said.
Florian is lucky, even though school students require more discipline at middle school than in a lycée. He has only 25 pupils in his class.
But he says something has shifted in the six years he has been teaching. Little by little, schools are being run like companies with a boss who applies a managerial logic. "Teachers are under the authority of the school head when everyone should be working together."
Not every change is negative, he says. He finds the syllabus for 13-14-year-olds (Quatrième, equivalent to UK Year 9) more relevant than previously. "Now we will be looking at colonisation and the slave trade in history and globalisation in geography."
Two age-groups in the same classroom
Jean-Marc (pictured below right), 54, has been teaching for 26 years and has a mixed-level class of pupils aged 9-10 and 10-11 (CM1and CM2, equivalent to UK Years 5 and 6). "I've got 29 pupils and I have to give a lesson for the CM1s and keep the CM2s busy at the same time," he said, adding that this system can work in "bourgeois" areas but not in the outer northern Paris suburbs of Val-d'Oise where he works.
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He has learned to multi-task. "We are asked to teach the basic subjects and also to do things like computing, civic education and road safety, and all of that in 24 hours a week. It's mission impossible."
The syllabus is inappropriate for classes like his, he says. He is also unhappy with the abolition of school classes on Saturday morning. Primary schools used to have lessons on Saturday mornings to make up for the free day on Wednesdays, but this was ended in 2008. He used to use that time to go over things with the class.
And to cap it all, he says, the image of teachers is constantly eroding."When we punish a pupil, nowadays we have to justify ourselves to parents who ask for an explanation."
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Teaching far from home
When Lise (pictured right), 29, decided to apply to become a teacher, she did not expect to have to move to the other end of France. But for her second year of teaching, she had to leave her husband in Marseille and go to live in Tremblay, in the outer suburbs of Paris, where she teaches French, history and geography in a lycée professionnel , a further education or community college.
As a result, Lise spends 10 hours every weekend travelling the 800 km return journey to Marseille, which she pays out of her own pocket. "With the job cuts, being married was not a good enough reason to be kept by your original education authority," she said.
She started in her new school just four weeks ago but she is already tired, and not very happy at being away from her husband. And she sometimes feels her lessons are pointless.
"They have partly ended the splitting of classes, so I'm teaching a whole Terminale (UK Year 13) class with difficult pupils. More often than not I'm just keeping them busy." Like many of her colleagues, Lise says the syllabus is too full and complains of having to skim over subjects. It would be better to lighten the syllabus so the teacher can really take time to explain it, she says.
Lise does not know yet what she will do if her request for a transfer next year is rejected. She says she prefers not to think about it. But, she says, she cannot go on like this for two years.
Supply teachers themselves in short supply
[asset|aid=83006|format=image|formatter=asset|title=|align=left|href=]Sébastien (pictured left), 35, came to the demonstration as a gesture of solidarity. He is an electronics teacher and says his colleagues are more affected by the various reforms than he is. He has 24 pupils per class, which might make some teachers jealous, but in fact their number is limited for safety reasons.
But at the further education college where he teaches, Lycée Professionnel Gustave-Ferrié in Paris's 10th arrondissement, the main problem is the lack of supply teachers. "When a teacher is sick there is no one to replace them. Usually you get in a supply teacher, but there is a shortage of supply teachers in electronics in Paris."
On top of that, teachers who take retirement are not being replaced, so Sébastien has to do extra hours. His cumulative overtime could create a new job.
Teaching used to be a privileged profession, but no more, he says. "Of course, having a job for life is an advantage, but in salary terms, there isn't much difference between a worker in industry and a teacher."
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English version: Sue Landau
(Editing by Graham Tearse)