Géraldine Farges, researcher at the Institute for Research on Education (University of Burgundy), edited the work with Loïc Szerdahelyi Teachers Wanted: Crossed Perspectives on the Attractiveness of a Profession (University Press of Rennes, 220 p., €20).
Since when do we talk about the teacher recruitment crisis?
If we mention the difficulties in recruiting teachers since at least the 1990s, the question of the attractiveness of the profession arises more significantly from the 2010s, after major job cuts during Nicolas Sarkozy’s five-year term in office, his successor François Hollande decided in 2012 to reverse the trend. But we quickly discovered that there was a shortage of candidates to fill all the new posts created.
In fact, the decline in applications had already been taking place since the 2000s. The attractiveness of the profession is therefore essential in the public debate in every competition that is not full. And the use of contracted teachers to compensate for the shortage has become increasingly accepted since 2015.
How can we explain the relative dissatisfaction of students with teaching careers and what levers can be used to remedy this?
Teaching is one of the so-called “executive” professions that attracts more students who do not come from the most privileged social backgrounds. The place of the competition in studies is therefore important: the later it comes, the smaller the group. Because you have to be able to finance five years of study when the teaching exams are taken at the end of the 2nd Master’s degree as they are today. Not to mention the costly risk of ultimately failing in this competition…
This is one of the reasons for the possible return of these competitive examinations to the bac + 3 (as they were before the reform of the master’s degree in 2010). This measure may be attractive for low-income students if it gives them access to the status of civil servant on internship in a master’s degree (therefore, paid).
Of course, the perception that students have of the profession is also important. We often talk about salary conditions that can divert them towards more financially attractive professions. That’s true. But the transfer conditions imposed after the competition [le fait d’être potentiellement nommé loin de chez soi] Working conditions also weigh in the balance. It is essential to work to improve the social status of teachers.
Renewing the staff of new teachers also involves people who leave after their first professional experience…
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