Drive to recruit teachers starts
New recruitment campaign will focus on better training and funding opportunities
TEACHERS of English, French and maths are especially in demand as part of a new recruitment campaign which starts today.
While no salary increases are planned at present, the government is expected to try to interest potential teachers by highlighting plans for better teacher training, with more practical training in classroom skills in revamped university teaching departments from next year’s rentrée.
Education Minister Vincent Peillon also plans to offer 18,000 emplois d’avenir professeur in teaching to second-year university students over three years, with the first 6,000 from next year.
This is a new scheme aimed at supporting people into teaching work, with part-time school placements and a top-up grant.
It is aimed at people who already have student grants (ie. from less well-off backgrounds), with priority given to those in sought-after disciplines or who study in, or come from, disadvantaged areas.
It should not be confused with other emplois d’avenir which are schemes to help the under-qualified into work.
Teaching recruitment has been dropping badly, with the profession seen as undervalued, pressured and underpaid – from 2011 to 2012 numbers signing up to take the CAPES secondary teaching exam dropped by 30%.
The OECD says France is the only western democracy, apart from Japan, which did not carry out a re-evaluation of teachers’ salaries between 2000-2010 and teachers are paid 17% less than the average. They also work longer hours than the average: primary teachers average 918 hours in France as against 782 in other OECD nations.
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