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STRIKES

French teachers walk out in a second nationwide strike

Unions have called for teachers to walk out again this Thursday, less than a week after another nationwide industrial action saw one in five teachers strike.

Published: 6 February 2024 10:09 CET
French teachers walk out in a second nationwide strike
A demonstrator wears a banner with a slogan reading "So teachers don't work, right?" during a rally after a call for strikes and protests by teaching unions over pay and work conditions, in Lyon, central-eastern France, on February 1, 2024. (Photo by JEFF PACHOUD / AFP)

Just a few days after last week’s strike, which saw at least 20 percent of teachers across France walk out, educators are staging another one-day protest.

Three of the largest teaching unions, Snes-FSU, CGT Éduc’Action and Sud Éducation, called on workers to walk out on Tuesday, February 6th.

The single-day strike is in protest against poor working conditions, low salaries, and a general disapproval of the new education minister, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.

This round of protests is also against reforms announced by France’s previous education minister (and current PM) Gabriel Attal, who called for ‘clash of knowledge’ (choc des savoirs) measures which would stream students in early secondary school (6ème and 5ème) into different levels based on ability in French and mathematics.

The proposal to set up level groups will be presented to France’s consultive body on education, the Higher Council on Education, on Thursday.

There will be a protest starting at 2pm in Paris, moving from the Place de la Sorbonne (in the 5th arrondissement) and heading towards the Ministry of Education.

Five large unions representing teachers are also now calling for a “week of action” from February 5th to 9th in an effort to “defend state schools, demand the start of discussions on salaries and to abandon the ‘knowledge shock’ measures”.

In France, primary school teachers must give 48 hours notice before walking out, while secondary school teachers are not required to give any notice. 

During last week’s strike, the ministry of education estimated that 17 percent of its staff overall walked out, including 20 percent of teachers. According to unions, like Snes-FSU, 47 percent of staff in secondary education walked out, and 40 percent of primary school educators did as well.

What is the controversy related to the Minister of Education?

During an interview in mid-January, Oudéa-Castera referenced teacher absenteeism when explaining why she had chosen to send her children to private schools.

She said it was because of “loads of teaching hours without a serious replacement” teacher at her son’s public school.

Speaking to reporters on her first visit to a school as minister, she said she had been “fed up, like hundreds of thousands of families” across France.

All three sons of Oudea-Castera have instead attended the Stanislas school, a Catholic institution near her home in Paris. The minister later apologised for her comments.

Teachers have also expressed frustration over the fact that the new education minister is also the head of the ministry of sport and 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

Guislaine David, the head of the FSU-Snuipp union, told AFP last week that the minister’s comments “set things on fire”. 

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SCHOOLS

Teachers in France to strike on Tuesday over streaming plans

Teachers across France are set to strike on Tuesday, May 14th, in protest against plans to introduce streaming for pupils in secondary schools (collèges) across the country.

Published: 13 May 2024 17:37 CEST
Teachers in France to strike on Tuesday over streaming plans

Teachers’ unions in France – CGT éduc’action, Fnec FP-FO and SUD éducation – have called on educators across the country to walk out on Tuesday, describing plans to introduce streaming in French and maths classes from the age of 11 as ‘segregation’ and ‘a form of social discrimination’.

The unions released a statement saying they hoped to push back against streaming, as well as to gain additional wages and extra support “to ensure the success of their students”.

In France, primary school teachers must give 48 hours notice before walking out, while secondary school teachers are not required to give any notice. 

There will be demonstrations and marches across the country on Tuesday, with more planned for Saturday, May 25th.

What’s the ‘streaming’ plan?

READ ALSO Why ‘streaming’ in French schools is causing controversy (and strikes)

The proposal to stream students into groups based on their ‘needs’: one group that is ‘at ease’ with the subject, one average group, and one group that needs extra attention.

It will begin with the lower two classes, 6ème and 5ème (ages 11 and 12) in autumn 2024, and by 2025 be expanded to the older two grades, 4ème and 3ème, according to a decree published in France’s Journal Officiel on March 17th.

Unions have argued that streaming in French and mathematics lessons in colleges would create an “assumed segregation between students in difficulty and others as well as social discrimination”. They also condemned pressure placed on CM2 (last year of primary school) teaching staff to “sort students into level groups for 6th grade (sixième)”.

“It’s not a shock to knowledge that national education needs, but a shock to resources and salaries,” the unions said, amid plans for continued walkouts.

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