New measures for teacher cover

SCHOOLS are to be given better access to supply teachers from September following complaints from parents.

Education Minister Luc Chatel said up to 20% of France's 50,000 supply teachers were being under-used and the system of replacement needed to be "more reactive and more flexible".

Under the new plan, schools will have more control over the recruitment of supply teachers, instead of relying on the local education authority, the réctorat. At the moment, if a secondary school teacher is absent for less than a fortnight, a replacement is often not provided.

Chatel has asked each school to appoint a member of staff to oversee the scheme and sit in on some lessons.

They will have access to a list of newly retired teachers and students who are free to provide two or three days' cover "at a moment's notice". Schools will also be able to "borrow" supply teachers from other areas if needed.

According to the ministry, 2.2 million teaching hours are lost each year in secondary schools through teacher absence - which it says is less than 1% of the total.

Parents' union Peep said children were not getting the education they deserved and called on every school to guarantee a minimum level of cover.

About 50 parents in the Seine-Saint-Denis have lodged a legal complaint with the ministry and asked for symbolic damages of €1 for every day when a teacher has been absent and not replaced.

They say some pupils have lost up to a month of lessons since the academic year began in September through teacher absence.

The FSU teachers' union said the new proposals were short-sighted and the ministry needed to rethink its policy of cutting permanent jobs.

Lycée students' union FIDL said the ministry was treating the teacher absence problem like "a game of draughts" instead of proposing real, permanent reform.

Teachers in collèges and lycées around France are due to stage a one-day strike on Friday over job cuts.