As schools prepare to reopen across Europe, new figures from a major French teachers’ union reveal that nearly three-quarters of French teachers surveyed say they no longer feel recognized or respected by the state, and most would not recommend their career to others.
“Schools are running out of steam,” declared Se-Unsa general secretary Elisabeth Allain-Moreno as she presented the results of the union’s latest annual barometer, which surveyed around 40,000 teachers, education advisors, school psychologists, and assistants.
The findings revealed that over half of respondents are considering leaving the profession, and nearly 77 percent say they would never recommend it. While 91 percent of respondents say they still love their work, nearly 36 percent are considering a career change within the public sector, and 26 percent are looking to leave it altogether.
As 20minutes reported, low pay is the most frequently cited problem, with 87 percent describing their salaries as inadequate. A category A teacher in France earns, on average, €1,000 less per month than other category A civil servants. Teachers with more than 15 years’ experience continue to earn around 16 percent less than their OECD peers, while France also remains among the countries with the largest class sizes.
Support staff for students with disabilities face even harsher conditions. Known as Aesh, they are often employed at just 60 percent of full-time hours and earn around €950 net per month, below the poverty line. “The state is the primary provider of precariousness,” said Gilles Langlois, national secretary of Se-Unsa, who demanded civil servant status for these workers.
The survey also highlights dissatisfaction over poor working conditions, the impact of continuous reforms, heavy workloads, and a lack of professional training. The overwhelming sentiment, however, is that of neglect. More than 70 percent of teachers said they feel a lack of recognition and respect from the state.
This discontent is not confined to France. In Vienna, teachers have warned of worsening classroom conditions, citing language barriers, violence, and cultural conflicts linked to mass immigration. Local unions report incidents ranging from assaults on teachers to demands that staff wear religious clothing, as well as cases of mock executions staged by pupils.
In Berlin, teachers at the Friedrich Bergius School late last year described “untenable” conditions in a seven-page letter to the district council, warning of violence, aggression, and students lacking even the most basic academic skills. With more than 80 percent of pupils speaking a language other than German at home, teachers say they are overwhelmed and unsupported.
There have been several high-profile attacks against teachers in France in recent years, including the beheading of Samuel Paty by a Chechen Muslim refugee in 2020, and the fatal stabbing of a 31-year-old teaching assistant in June.
Similarly, in the Netherlands, a 53-year-old teacher from Dordrecht was seriously injured in a stabbing last month during a school musical for eighth graders.
