European Trade Union Committee for Education

Teachers in secondary schools with the most disadvantaged students have been joining forces and demonstrating for more than six months. Indeed, with the support of SNES-FSU, they have been protesting against their exclusion from the Priority education map. The “Priority education” label secures additional resources which are essential in order to tackle social and educational inequalities in the most efficient way.

The action was especially intense in academies in Marseille and the Île-de-France region, but other – more remote – schools also joined the movement, launched more than six months ago. The demonstrations organised in Paris and Marseille gathered several thousands of people this month.

The strong response to this issue, built through joint collective and interunion efforts, forced the French Minister of National Education to bring concrete solutions to the table: 450 jobs were promised to the most “at risk” institutions for the next school year as well as a “protection protocol” to ensure four more years of allowances for the education staff.

The remaining challenge is now to lobby for a new map of the Priority Education, a map which would now include the upper secondary schools.