Teachers face the risk of self-censorship after the Conflans attack

A tribute to the teacher who was beheaded, in front of his college in Conflans.

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• The educational community is in shock after the death of a history professor beheaded Friday near his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines).

• According to the first elements of the investigation, he had shown his students last week a caricature of Muhammad, which was allegedly criticized by some students and their parents.

• A drama that brings to light the cases of challenges to certain teachings by students.

How will teachers design their lessons after such a tragedy?

A history teacher was beheaded on Friday near his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines).

According to the first elements of the investigation, he had shown his students last week a caricature of Muhammad, as part of a course on freedom of expression.

According to Rodrigo Arenas, co-president of the FCPE, he had "invited the Muslim students to leave the class" before showing a drawing of the prophet.

According to AFP, the teacher had been targeted since last week by the complaint of an indignant parent of a student.

The professor had, a few days later, lodged a complaint in turn for defamation.

A drama that brings to light the cases of challenges to certain teachings by students.

According to the latest figures from National Education, between September 2019 and March 2020, 935 cases of attack on secularism were observed at school.

And

teaching challenges, such as disapproving program content, accounted for 15% of cases.

“So it's not a massive phenomenon, even if it does exist.

We also remember that in 2015, after the

attack

, 200 cases of disturbances during the minute of silence were reported ”, indicates Ismaïl Ferhat, lecturer at the University of Picardy Jules Verne, specialist in school secularism and member of the Education Observatory of the Jean Jaurès Foundation.

Course challenges in French, History, SVT ...

Christine Guimonnet, professor of history and geography at the Lycée de Pontoise (Val-d'Oise), and secretary general of the association of history and geography teachers (APHG) also testifies to this phenomenon: “In our society, identity eruptions are increasingly strong.

People find it hard to get off center.

And social networks give them a huge sounding board.

Some of our students come with their family beliefs and don't hesitate to confront their classmates or their teachers.

They are overwhelmed with information and find it difficult to sort things out ”.

Certain subjects are more at risk, as Ismaïl Ferhat observes: “This is the case with History, French, Life and Earth Sciences.

This is because they tackle more socially explosive issues.

Some students do not want us to discuss the Armenian genocide or the evolution, others find that the Palestinian question is not sufficiently addressed, others jump in sex education classes.

And we know that some students are prevented from going to the swimming pool so as not to appear in swimsuits and obtain medical certificates of convenience.

"

Some parents are sometimes aggressive

Moreover, although religious groups have always shown their hostility towards certain school content, the school has become a target, according to Ismaïl Ferhat: “For radical Sunni movements, Western schools are evil.

Their detestation of national education is theorized and infused with the most conservative students who are host to any criticism of religion ”.

According to him, the social context of the moment adds a suspicion: "We are witnessing a phenomenon of increasing violence against civil servants, as shown by the very violent attacks against bus drivers, police officers, directors of 'school ... "Breaking the official" has become legitimate for a minority fringe of society.

Some parents of students are also fully involved in these teaching challenges: "They allow themselves to ask for the resignation of a teacher or to verbally attack a school principal", observes Christine Guimonnet.

"The risk would be that teachers come to negotiate with the programs"

In this context, could the tragedy of Conflans lead teachers to self-censor?

“The risk would be that teachers would come to negotiate with the programs, adapt their lessons according to the cultural or religious practices of a class, which would lead to a ghettoization of education.

In some establishments, we would tackle all the subjects and in others, we would avoid some, ”analyzes Ismaïl Ferhat.

Which teachers will still dare to show the Muhammad caricatures to their students?

“It is part of educational freedom.

When they do, they recontextualize them and explain to the students the difference between knowledge and opinions.

They explain to them that they have the right to have opinions on condition that they argue them, but not to assert the truths.

And that blasphemy does not exist in a secular state ”.

But according to Ismaïl Ferhat, the use of caricatures, whatever they are in a course, is not obvious: "The pupils often take them at the first degree and it takes a huge amount of work to help them analyze the intention. behind the image ”.

In an attempt to reassure teachers in the exercise of their profession, as much as possible, Jean-Michel Blanquer spoke on Saturday: "I will be, and our country will be at your side to protect you, to allow you to do your job which is the most essential job, passing on to our children the knowledge and values ​​which are our common good, ”he declared.

A word of essential weight, according to Ismaïl Ferhat.

"There must be a strong public response and not allow any distortion of secularism to pass in the classes, because otherwise the tolerance threshold for the most conservative students is further reduced", he believes. .

“The educational institution must also go out to meet parents to avoid hypersensitivity to religious matters.

And that it trains teachers in the INSPE (Higher National Institute of Teaching and Education) to face challenges in their courses.

So that they never again feel like isolated culprits, while they are not guilty of anything, ”insists Christine Guimonnet.

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If you are a teacher, testify about the repercussions this tragedy will have on the exercise of your profession.

What subject do you teach?

Are you afraid for your safety?

Are you going to avoid certain topics in your lessons?

Or on the contrary exclude none to encourage your students to develop their critical thinking?

Are you going to report any student slippage more systematically to your school principal?

How do you plan to face the protesting parents in the future?

What do you think would be the best measures to ensure the safety of teachers and guarantee their freedom to teach?

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