A few days before a back-to-school under tension in the face of the shortage of teachers, Emmanuel Macron is taking the lead. The Head of State has decided to bring together the rectors of the academy at the Sorbonne, in Paris, this Thursday, August 25 in the morning. During this event, which takes place the day before the back-to-school press conference for the new Minister of Education, Pap Ndiaye, the President of the Republic detailed “the challenges of the new method of National Education”, before to fly to Algeria.
Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of an educational innovation fund of “at least 500 million euros”, from September, for establishments wishing to set up a specific educational project. To set up this project, “we put money into it, at least 500 million euros, as close as possible to the field” and this must be “disbursed as quickly as possible”, declared the president during his speech.
“There are projects that won’t work, schools that won’t want to make projects, projects that will fail: it doesn’t matter at all,” he continued confidently.
The president also promised that the increase in teachers’ salaries would be “continued” so that none of them would start their career “at less than 2,000 euros net” per month. At the Grenelle de l’Education started in 2020, “you (…) started a general revaluation of remuneration 2 years ago, which will be continued, by ensuring that no teacher begins his career at less than 2,000 net euros” per month and which “will allow around 10% increase in remuneration compared to the status quo”, indicated the President of the Republic.
To this general salary increase, “unconditional stage”, will be added a “pact for teachers” which will allow them, on a voluntary basis, to “engage (…) in additional missions”, such as the individualized follow-up, supervisory tasks or “actions that make sense”, and which will be “remunerated”, specified the Head of State. The objective is to stop the crisis of attractiveness of the profession.
Emmanuel Macron also called for a “deep transformation” of vocational high schools through the development of “internship times of at least 50%”, which will be better paid. The objective will also be to “re-attach very deeply and upstream the vocational high school with the world of work”, specified the Head of State, who estimated that “the success of our high schools will be absolutely key for the full employment”.
It is a “reform to which I am very attached”, underlined the President of the Republic, who wants “to build this profound transformation by entrusting the vocational high school with autonomy, the means to innovate, to better prepare young people for the world of the company”.
Regarding high school, the president insisted on the “reinforcement of mathematics in the common core” to “support fundamental knowledge”. Associations, mathematics research institutes and teachers were alarmed at the start of the year by the drop in the number of young people taking this subject since the reform of high school, in particular among girls, reinforcing long-standing inequalities.
Since then, President Emmanuel Macron announced at the beginning of June the return of mathematics as an option in Première class from the start of the next school year. The study also indicates that the most chosen “doublet” (combination of two specialties) in Terminale is “mathematics / physics-chemistry” (17% of students), as in 2020.
The culture pass will be extended to all middle school students. For the time being, only teenagers between 15 and 18 can benefit from it. “Let’s make culture accessible to everyone, from the youth. This is why we will propose to extend the culture pass from the 6th and to amplify artistic and cultural education”, had launched the Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne during his general policy speech to the National Assembly on July 6.