All is well, Madame la Marquise. “There will be no shortage of teachers at the start of the school year”, assured Edouard Geffray, the director general of school education (Dgesco), facing the press on Wednesday. Accompanied by the Director General of Human Resources (DGRH) of the Ministry of National Education, Vincent Soetemont, he reacted to the alarming figures published the previous hours: for 1,035 open mathematics teacher positions at Capes, the competition allowing to teach in college and high school, only 816 candidates are eligible (thus not yet admitted). In German, there are 83 eligible for 215 open positions. In other words, whatever the admission results, many math and German teacher positions, already in tension, will remain unfilled.
But all that was planned, want to reassure the Dgesco and the DGRH. Because this year, the competition to become a teacher has changed: while it took place, until last year, at the end of the first year of the master’s degree, it now takes place at the end of the second year. The current M1s cannot therefore yet pass the Capes (nor can the competition to become a school teacher) and the current M2s have largely already passed it last year. “It brings us to a mechanical drop, but which was anticipated”, hammered the two men. Nothing to do, they believe, with the disaffection of the French for the profession of teacher, badly paid and badly considered, as evidenced by the plummeting in the number of candidates for competitions in recent years.
Back to high school math
While mathematics must return for all first and final year students at the start of the school year – with the reform of the baccalaureate, they were only taught to high school students who chose them as a specialty – how to anticipate these needs, assessed to “just under 350 full-time equivalents [ETP]» by the ministry? “We have a reserve at the national level in FTE and a reserve in overtime which makes it possible to largely absorb this need”, said Edouard Geffray about mathematics teachers.
So no massive recourse to contract workers, generally with little or no training, to compensate? “We have a lot fewer contract teachers today in mathematics than three years ago. [-20% selon le DGRH, ndlr] and many more civil servants,” defended Edouard Geffray. This school year, there are 37,730 civil servant math teachers and “just over 1,000 contract workers”. No question either of lowering the level of requirement for competitions? “We are recruiting competent teachers”, swept away Edouard Geffray, who does not, however, wish to make the eligibility thresholds public.
“Special attention” in Ile-de-France
In primary school too, the figures raise fears for the future. Notable fact: the ministry has, exceptionally this year, not communicated the number of candidates present in the recruitment competitions for school teachers compared to the number of open positions. The unions see it as proof that it is dramatically low, the ministry retorts that it wanted “preserve candidates from reading grids that are not the right ones”, since with the reform of the competition, the “breeding ground” is “mechanically” weaker. And will increase “mechanically” next year.
Feedback from the field nevertheless shows a strong lack of interest in the competition, with a number of examination tables having remained vacant this year. “The situation is normal in 90% of the academies”, replied Edouard Geffray, indicating that only the three academies of Ile-de-France were the subject of a “particular attention”. “There is no particular concern. The students will obviously have their teachers at the start of the school year in their class”, he repeated once more. As if to be convinced.