They walk this Tuesday alongside refiners, railway workers and other professions mobilized on this day of inter-professional strike. Also indignant are the trade unions of the professional high schools who intend to take the mobilization to ask for the withdrawal of the reform project wanted by Emmanuel Macron.
Increased internship time
In mid-September Emmanuel Macron presented the main lines of his vocational high school reform which he wishes to be “very progressive”. The Head of State also hoped for a “profound transformation” of the professional career at the end of August, with the desire to “reconnect the professional high school with the world of work in a very deep and upstream way”.
In particular, the reform promised by the President of the Republic provides for a 50% increase in three years of the time dedicated to internships in companies, thus reducing the number of hours of general training that students benefit from. During these internships, young people will be able to receive a “reward” of 200 euros per month for minors and 500 euros for adults.
It also intends to adapt the training offered to the demands and needs of local businesses. The goal: “to reconnect, in a very thorough and upstream way, the professional high schools with the world of work” but also “to adapt our training to the needs of the labor market and students”, as Emmanuel Macron explained in August Last.
With the aim of improving the professional integration of students, which could also lead to the closure of some courses that are too little “integrative” in the eyes of the government. According to Dares data for July 2021one year after leaving school in 2020, 49% of vocational high school students have a paid job in the private sector in France.
600,000 : this is the number of students attending professional high schools
For trade unions there is also a pro high school focused on companies
These main lines of reform are far from satisfying the unions and teachers.
In a column published on Sunday on JDD, elected officials, teachers and trade unionists believe that reducing the number of hours of general education in favor of internships “leads to a decline in the value of students’ diplomas, making it impossible to continue their studies”. They also recall that the number of hours devoted to general education has already decreased by 30% in 2019.
Furthermore, many unions denounce the “economic” vision of this reform, which brings the professional high school closer to apprenticeship, subjecting it, according to them, even more to the labor market. In their eyes, the reform aims to meet the needs of companies above all, rather than the aspirations of students.
President Macron’s plan to transform vocational high schools on the model of apprenticeship poses a real danger to the academic and professional future of a third of young high school students.
Press release of the Intersyndicale
Trade unions and teachers also emphasize the placement of Delegate Minister for Education and Vocational Training Carole Grandjean under the dual supervision of Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labor, and Pap Ndiaye, head of the Education portfolio. “This choice stems from a narrow vision of the training of young people reduced to a rigorous goal of employability. The emancipatory dimension, the contribution of a rich and diversified common culture, the balance between general and professional training that allows for the continuation of studies for all, is completely wiped out “, Snuep-FSU deplored last July.
23% of high school strikers pro, according to the ministry
The call for a strike by high school teachers’ unions was launched in September by most trade unions in the sector, including Sneeta-FO, Snuep-FSU, SE-Unsa, CGT Educ’action, Snalc, SUD Education, Snep -FSU, Snes-FSU. Or before the call of the inter-professional strike.
On Tuesday, the Parisian procession of professors of the professional career could however “join the procession of the interprofessional event”, Pascal Vivier, general secretary of Snetaa-FO (majority) explained to AFP. In the region, in the morning, the pro high school unions began to parade. According to him, “more than half of pro high school teachers will be on strike” and “many establishments will be completely closed in France”. “Unheard of,” he says.
The first data from the Ministry of Education, on the other hand, show almost 23% of strikers.
Upcoming consultations
At the same time, Deputy Minister Carole Grandjean announced on Friday that she would set up “four working groups” on this reform. Participants will then be invited to “share together the evaluation of the transformation of the career path”, reads a letter of which AFP has obtained a copy.
In a letter recently sent to Education Minister Pap Ndiaye, Snetaa-FO explained that she had “decided not to go to this so-called consultation when the expectations have already been published”.
