French school parent associations bare their teeth, and quite rightly so

Remember this?

Hi, and tonight's subject is the French teaching profession and the decision by teachers' unions to oppose what in simple terms are government plans to implement reforms involving school hours on Saturday morning which the government says will render the weekly routine of schools more efficient and productive.

I don't intend to address the whys and wherefores and rights and wrongs of this proposed legislation, which was announced four months ago, and union opposition to it, but I thought nevertheless that you might like to read some of the content of a speech which was given recently by a representative of parent groups and associations to a meeting at which both teachers and their unions were also present. The speech was so volatile and accusatory towards the unions' stance that it has since gone viral in the Internet world of the French teaching profession. Needless to say, the unions don't appreciate it.

The speech reminded those who listened to it that teaching unions opposed the new system due to their professed concern for "the well-being of pupils", and it went on to deliver a withering criticism of what the associations say is a hypocritical stance by the unions. Here is some of what was said.

[So what you, the unions, are saying is]

"Yes to 'the well-being of pupils', but teachers should only teach for 23 hours a week and not 24 [which is the case today].
For 'the well-being of  pupils' it is indispensable that teachers get a pay rise right in the middle of a financial crisis.
For 'the well-being of pupils' Wednesday should remain a day off.
For 'the well-being of pupils' teachers need to rest on the weekend.
For 'the well-being of pupils' it is indispensable that July and August should remain holiday periods.
For 'the well-being of pupils' we must invest in more teachers before, and to the detriment of, developing means of teaching children to an adequate level.
For 'the well-being of pupils' you refuse to negotiate the issue of homework.
For 'the well-being of pupils' you refuse to negotiate the [universally held to be excessive] weight that children are obliged to carry in their satchels and backpacks.

In a nutshell, in just four months we have gained the sentiment that what was meant to be a 'reform of school routines for pupils' has slowly evolved into a 'reform of school routines for pupils....and teachers',  to the point where it is now no more than a 'reform of school routines for teachers unions' and shall soon doubless be a 'reform of school routines, the [summer] tourist operator lobby, the transport industry and all the rest of it'. But as to the pupils......."

Well said, and about time!!

Psychobabble, the deep malaise in the French teaching profession, and the doctor's advice

No pupils....and no teacher

I read an article on L'Express a few days ago which related the recently-released results of a study carried out by a research team from Bordeaux into the incidence of work-related "burnout" among young French teachers. The article included statistics on the phenomenon as well as an analysis of its psychological characteristics and how they manifest themselves.

Here is an extract which describes the three symptoms of burnout identified by the study;

"Emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation of relations with pupils - the teacher can no longer express empathy and can even express cynicism and rejection vis-à-vis pupils - and an absence of a sense of accomplishment in his or her work. [...] The evolution of depersonalisation and emotional exhaustion demonstrates an upward tendency. [...] Burnout increases or at best remains constant over time and teachers are not able to break the downward spiral of the resources they need to teach."

To be perfectly honest I thought all that was totally over the top, psychobabble, pseudo-scientific, call it what you will.

After all, not all teachers suffer from burnout, far from it, so what this study reveals in simple and non-psychobabble terms is that some young teachers discover after beginning their career that they are not suited to teaching after all for reasons such as a) some children are extremely unruly, disrepectful, even violent and the teacher can't handle it, b) the teacher is frustrated at the lack of teaching facilities which hinder the progress of pupils, c) The job is more time-consuming (marking homework after work, extra-curricular events etc) than had been anticipated, d) (and I know someone in this position) the teacher is appalled by the negative opinions expressed by senior colleagues about pupils and children in general as well as their penchant for taking days off under pretexts they admit to be false in teachers' room conversation, e) other, and f) any combination of them.

In other words, my reaction was "Let's call a spade a spade here. If you don't like teaching or aren't suited to it well resign then and do something else godssakes!"

I almost put up a post here to that effect but something stopped me from doing so. I felt uneasy about what I had read. I was bothered by something I couldn't put my finger on. So I bookmarked the article in my 'may come in useful one day' file.

And it came in very useful three hours ago after I read that a French teacher hung herself today in her classroom during the lunchtime break. She had recently restarted work after being off sick for a year and had been off work sporadically before that. The reason for these absences was said by the state investigator to be her "excessive tendencies."

Needless to say I was horrified by the news, particularly as this is not an isolated case. I can recall reading about several similar cases over the last year in which teachers have committed suicide at work. One particularly terrifying incident involved a teacher who poured petrol over herself in front of her pupils and others in the playground and set herself alight. She died where she fell.

It would be safe to say that many of those who commit suicide must be in deep emotional distress, and in even deeper distress to be driven to the point of doing so in front of children.

So I reread the survey conclusion I quoted from above to see if it would help me to understand what was going on and that reminded me of the recent (ongoing?) two-year spate of suicides at France Telecom which began after the company imposed a highly aggressive market-oriented marketing policy and more demanding working conditions upon its employees. The press has published details of every suicide and each time it has done so it has added a slew of 'analytical' articles by/interviews of psychologists, psychiatrists and other 'experts', many of whom use the same kind of jargon-ridden language as that used in the Bordeaux study.

Then I reread this post I wrote a while back about the exceptionally high suicide rates in France.

I have no definite conclusions to draw from all this but I can't help thinking that there is something very unhealthy going on here. Okay, the world of work is getting harder, and okay, it's hard to change jobs these days, but at the risk of appearing insensitive isn't all this obsession with concepts such as "depersonalisation", "emotional exhaustion", "inability to express empathy" and "cynicism and the rejection of pupils" to describe job dissatisfaction rather overdone, fatalist, negative and apt to foster in teachers and others feelings of psychological/psychiatric inadequacy or failure which may lead to depression?

Researchers and mental health specialists have valuable insights to offer into why people find their working conditions difficult of course, and their data is valuable. But where is the positive counseling support? Why are teachers so cynical about their work? Where is the research which offers ways of combating depression in the workplace? Why do we only talk about the downside and never about how to improve things?

The answer to those questions are to be found in French hospitals. I did some research on pain management in French hospitals a few years back after meeting a French pain management specialist who informed me that France only started implementing the concept in a serious manner about 15 years ago, many years after its adoption by Northern European and Anglosaxon countries.

His opinion was that Latin and Catholic mindsets and what he called their "inherent acceptance of the inevitability of pain, suffering and guilt" had hindered progress in this field of medecine for decades.

He may be right, and if he is his words may offer some insights into why so many teachers seem to accept the 'inevitability' of what ails them.

And from there on in, suicide becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy...

"Sport is the apprenticeship of fascism"

Gestapo headqua...euhh, a French school

I suppose I'd rather read that than be blind but those are the most depressing words I have read for weeks. They were spoken by a young woman who was describing her schooling, they and other, similar, opinions are from this article in online French daily Rue89, and they are symptomatic of the massive failure of the archaic self-contradictions of the French education system.

"For me, the word 'shame' is synonymous with the swimming pool." "I couldn't give a damn about sport. I thought it was stupid." "They didn't let me play rugby because I was too useless." "The sordid universe of the changing rooms at 8 in the morning."

That is the tragic reality of how the majority of French kids see sport, but it isn't the kids' fault in any way. There are always going to be some children who do not like sport of course, but the generalised loathing it inspires today is extremely worrying because it is the direct reflection of shortcomings in the way French schools are run and, on a broader scale, the pressures that society places on children.

The grand paradox of the French educational system in modern times is that it is still rooted in outdated philosophical approaches and methods of thought which were abandoned many years ago in more progressive countries. The great irony is that the teaching profession here is majoritarily left-leaning, which means that egalitarianism is theoretically espoused and the very idea of competition is an anathema, yet in practice the system is solidly structured around the very principles of soulless abnegation, the fear of failure and achievement-at-all-costs which the profession ostensibly despises. The word 'capitalism' was banned from French school books for many years because it was thought to embody a dog-eat-dog philosophy, yet at the same time teachers would (and still do) spend half their time establishing hierarchies amongst their pupils via the daily use of grades, marks out of 20, and the humiliation of those who are not 'up to standard.'

Probably the most used and abused word in French schools is 'nul' - 'useless.' 'You're useless' is thrown around like confetti by exasperated teachers who use it as a form of discipline and punishment. Children are deliberately ridiculised in front of their classmates by teachers who somehow manage to delude themselves that it will inspire them to perform better. But it doesn't, and they don't. French children are taught to keep quiet, they do not have the right to express themselves or their individuality (in the name of 'equality' maybe?) the professor is God, and woe betide any child who dares to question what he or she is being told.

And so it is with sport. Largely frowned upon by a profession which considers that it promotes unhealthily competitive must-win attitudes, it is at the same time organised in a highly competitive manner. Children are given marks for their performances, these marks count towards end-of-year results, and coming last is often seen as a sign that the child is lazy.What happens if you don't get the desired grades at the end of the year? You have to do that year again, which means your classmates move onwards and upwards while you have to stay behind and study with children a year younger than yourself. The feeling of humiliation and failure that this almost always leads to can easily be imagined. It is well-documented moreover.

It is this fundamental hypocrisy which has led to the rise of a €2 billion a year legal market for coffee tablets and other stimulants to help children keep up with the frantic pace of homework, tests, exams and studies. Depression due to the pressures of school life is rife amongst French schoolchildren, many of whom go to school with a heavy heart.

And it's not as if the pressure and hierarchical approach gets results. Contrary to what many foreigners may think or believe, the French education system and the results it obtains are regularly criticised by OECD and E.U. studies and France is either in or just above the bottom third of results obtained in crucial subjects such as French and maths. Creativity is almost non-existant and both teacher and pupil absenteeism are abnormally high.

All that said, it's not just the education system which needs a shake-up, it's society's expectations of children. They learn early on that if your breasts are too large - or too small - or if you are overweight, in other words if you don't look like the skinny models used to sell clothes in childrens' magazines you are just one notch away from being considered as a freak.

You may say that things have always been like that and you would be right, but the onus placed on French children today to succeed is far greater than anything experienced in the past, and failure, unlike before when you could, say, get an apprenticeship or lower your sights, often means long-term unemployment in a country where unemployment rates for young people are higher than in almost any other major western country except Spain.

Some children are more competitive in nature than others. There is nothing wrong with that of course, but sport, like any discipline, should not just be about winning and getting good marks. Sport should be about doing one's best and trying to improve, whatever one's level of ability. It should be about fun and cameraderie and children should be encouraged and praised, whatever the results obtained.

That's how it was for me and for me to see the very idea of sport and intellectual endeavour reduced to the point where it's only the grades which count is a damning indictment of our times. If we can no longer teach children how to play sport without it being a source of pressure, dread and depression the teaching profession and society in general are guilty of depriving children of their basic rights.