Teachers with more than 15 years of experience, or almost 70% of the profession, are still waiting for a significant increase in their salaries, which have suffered a significant drop in just a few decades. The 2024 edition of the report “Education at a glance”, prepared by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and published on Tuesday 10 September, once again supports their request, while Emmanuel Macron had promised, after his re-election in 2022, to increase the total number of teachers by 10%.
The real salaries of these experienced teachers remained stable between 2015 and 2023, the intergovernmental organization notes. If salaries “statutory” The number of university professors increased by 15% between 2015 and early 2023, without inflation, this increase is only 1% if we take into account the increase in prices. At the same time, the real increase in remuneration amounted to 4% on average in OECD countries.
The increase is, however, more marked for French teachers at the beginning of their career: it is in the order of 5%, between 2015 and 2023. “If France is catching up on the salaries of beginning teachers, this is not yet the case for mid-career teachers”According to Eric Charbonnier, an OECD analyst, French teachers with more than 15 years’ experience still have salaries 16% lower than the average for OECD countries.
“We still have a lot to do”
The outgoing Minister of National Education, Nicole Belloubet, acknowledged this during the presentation of “Education at a glance” at the OECD headquarters in Paris: “Comparative data on teachers’ salaries remain, at least in terms of career path, disadvantageous for our country. We still have a lot to do to strengthen the attractiveness of the teaching profession”judges the political leader.
Further salary increases were made in September 2023. Incumbents now start with 2,100 euros net per month compared to less than 1,700 euros in 2020. Teachers with up to ten years’ seniority received an additional 200 euros net and those with more than fifteen years’ seniority received 95 euros. At the same time, fewer than one in three teachers has signed a pact, this system that provides for remuneration for additional missions, such as short-term replacements.
This project for the remuneration of teachers has therefore been paralysed for almost a year. In October 2023, Gabriel Attal, then Minister of National Education, judged, in an interview with World that was necessary “Advancing on other levers of attractiveness” of the teaching profession. But the waltz of the Ministers of Education, between December 2023 and February 2024, and then the dissolution of the National Assembly interrupted all consultation on the subject.
You have 11.47% left to read of this article. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
