National education is changing for the fifth time in fifteen months. The Juntos por la República (EPR) deputy of 11my Anne Genetet, a French constituency established outside France, was appointed Minister of National Education, in Michel Barnier’s government, on Saturday 21 September 2024. She succeeds Nicole Belloubet, minister since February 2024, preceded by Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, Gabriel Attal. and Pap Ndiaye. She will be accompanied at the head of the largest ministry of State by Alexandre Portier, a member of parliament for the Republicans of the 9thmy Rhône constituency, appointed Minister Delegate responsible for academic success and vocational training, an unprecedented title.
The 61-year-old, known in the Assembly for her work in defence and diplomacy, is a surprising choice. A doctor by training and a graduate in “medical journalism and communication”, she practiced both professions before becoming a consultant in Singapore, where she lived for several years from 2005. She also volunteered for several NGOs working with hospital employees and founded a consultancy firm on national employer-employee relations for families of Western expatriates. A member of Parliament since 2017, she was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee during Emmanuel Macron’s first five-year term and then of the Defence Committee between 2022 and July 2024.
Apart from a report on the draft law aimed at changing the governance of the French Agency for Education Abroad, Anne Genetet has never worked on educational issues and is not known for her public positions on the subject.
A “puzzling” choice for Snes-FSU
Alexandre Portier, 34, was briefly a philosophy teacher. A member of Parliament since 2022, close to Laurent Wauquiez, he was actively involved in educational issues during his first term, and in particular tabled a bill on teacher training, one of the key issues to come. He also denounced the “attempts at fraud” made against private contract education in a May 2024 column in The Figaro. Given their careers, the duo seems interested in finding political balances.
There is no doubt about this among education professionals and the appointment of Anne Genetet, unknown to them until Saturday evening, has met with a polarised response. We have the impression that we are playing rock, paper, scissors to find out who will be the national education minister.”criticises Sophie Vénétitay, secretary general of Snes-FSU. For the main teachers’ union, the choice made by the head of state is ” appalling » : « Anne Genetet is very, very far from the concerns of the school, she is not the right person in the right place and she will have no legitimacy in the eyes of the staff. »
You have 47.25% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
