It is the fruit of a “a long process of negotiations”far from being completed yet. At the Faculty of Sciences of the University Paris Cité, a project has been launched that promises to be immense: to train teachers of all disciplines for the challenge of the century, that of the climate crisis. Convinced that “the emergency” In order to bring about a profound change in teaching in the face of a world that is turning upside down and, therefore, to give all the keys to those who provide them, Gaëlle Charron, a professor and researcher in physics, has been dragging her pilgrim’s staff for years to demand an ambitious policy in this area.
How can this be done when French universities are already tightening their belts? “At Paris Cité, the faculty budget was cut by 20% last year. So when we talk about the need to find money, we inevitably get some strong pushback.”says the man who was appointed vice-dean for the ecological transition. However, he has managed to use a budget allocated by the National Research Agency for educational innovation (2 million euros over ten years) and the first training courses for students and teachers will be launched in 2023.
“This has allowed us to obtain resources. We are not yet up to the challenge, but we are making progress.”Each year, about fifty volunteer teachers are trained to spend eighteen hours exploring the issues of planetary boundaries and sustainability, and the educational tools to integrate them into their discipline. “We are pushing for this to be mandatory for all incoming lecturers. But this has not yet been ratified: this requires strong political will at the level of university governance. »underlines.
Objective 2025
However, it is impossible to ignore the need for in-depth training of teaching staff, while universities and grandes écoles are being asked to massively integrate transition issues into their courses. Indeed, all university students must be trained in these issues by 2025, the Ministry of Higher Education asks in a framework note for 2023, taking up the recommendations of the report by climatologist Jean Jouzel on the subject.
But this measure was initially taken without any working group having been set up on the issue of support for teachers, who, not being specialists in these issues, will have to transform their courses and models, which is the crux of the matter. Finally, following a consultation at the beginning of the summer, a new specific framework note was sent to school principals in September. It recommends that all new entrants take awareness courses, adding a compulsory component. in his/her service commission hours already dedicated to his/her educational training.
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