Nothing guaranteed they would become teachers, and yet: they made the choice for school. The choice to commit to promoting equal opportunities by becoming teachers in vocational middle and high schools in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
This was the case for Justine, who we met during the Summer School organised by the association. She had completed two years of work-study in consulting and six months in a startup before concluding that she had to try a new path: teaching had always been in the back of her mind and she decided to take the plunge.
What I find cool is that this gives us the opportunity to take our first steps in teaching while being supported before making a decision for the long term.
Justine, future mathematics teacher
“I wouldn’t have felt the courage to do it alone, to send in an application and become a contract teacher like that without preparation. My studies did not prepare me for teaching; I didn’t have any pedagogical training, I needed support to be able to navigate a programme. And I wouldn’t have felt ready to prepare for CAPES right away to become a math teacher.” Justine therefore decided to commit to an initial two-year period as a contract teacher in a middle school. This is the case for 60% of teachers supported by Le Choix de l’école, who take these exams and pursue their careers in teaching beyond the first two years.
For this start of the September 2021 school year, 55 new teachers who have made this choice will be assigned as contract teachers in partner academies of the association, namely Créteil, Versailles, Paris and Aix-Marseille. They will teach subjects in which there is a shortage of permanent staff.
STUDIOUS HOLIDAYS
There won’t be much vacation this summer for these future teachers who have devoted the month of July to completing Le Choix de l’école’s Summer School programme. The objective is simple: to help these future teachers to understand the environment in which they will grow professionally, to better understand students’ needs and to enhance their skills in the subject they will teach while developing their knowledge of pedagogy.
Their days are filled with meetings, no two of which are alike: with teachers as well as a school commissioner, a Nobel Peace Prize winner (in this case, Muhammad Yunus), a child psychiatrist, etc. The second phase of this Summer School is the orientation week held from 25 to 30 August at the Collège Gisèle Halimi d’Aubervilliers. This is where we meet them after a summer spent in preparation. There is less than a week before the start of the school year and many people do not yet know where they will be assigned.
“I am all the more convinced of the need to be supported by Le Choix de l’école in these kinds of circumstances, where we are a bit in the dark,” confirms Justine, who will soon be a mathematics teacher. So, are they better equipped for the start of their first school year? When we ask him this, another future teacher named Gaston admits that it would be presumptuous to say so after only a few weeks. “But I feel supported,” he adds immediately. “I now know who to go to if I have problems.”
Because this is also the strength of Le Choix de l’école: the collective spirit that is formed among the participants and the camaraderie that will continue to grow after each of them has received their teaching assignment. The association will continue to support them for two years, with workshops each Wednesday afternoon that provide teachers with follow-up in their subject and training on broader subjects such as orientation, student disengagement, the classroom climate and even cooperation.
“WHAT MAKES A GOOD TEACHER?” STUDENTS’ OPINIONS
On the day of our visit, a time for discussion is planned between a group of students currently in high school and the 55 future teachers. For some, it is the first meeting with students, and extensive discussions in workshops will allow them to better understand what to expect. Future teachers take the opportunity to ask all their questions and try to draw a mental portrait of a good teacher. How is a particular teaching method perceived? How to react to this or that circumstance? The questions go on, and the students answer them honestly. “I think it’s great that they brought in students,” says Marc-Antoine. “It helps demystify the relationship between teachers and students. We will be more confident at the start of the school year.” As for the students, they also leave with a revelation: “I had no idea that teachers were asking so many questions,” said one of them with a smile on his face. And no doubt these new teachers will have many more questions in the coming months, but now they know who to ask them to.