Paris (AFP)

Reform of the baccalaureate and retreats: after a particularly tense end of the year, the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer receives this week the trade unions to clear a return at risk.

The school year ended in July on a bitter note, with a bac tainted by a series of hiccups and a strike of correctors opposed to the Minister's reforms.

Previously, Jean-Michel Blanquer, considered by many observers as the good student of the government, had crossed his first hole of air in the spring with his law on the school, challenged by many teachers and parents of students.

Accused by the unions of being deaf to their demands, the minister never stopped repeating in July that his door was still open. After a series of "bilateral meetings" organized before the holidays, he receives the trade unions again this week before September 2nd.

A desire to "restore the link between the field and the rue de Grenelle"? This is the hope of Francette Popineau, Secretary General of Snuipp-FSU, the first union primary: "This is the first time under this ministry that the unions are received before the start of the school year, there have certainly been instructions so that we do not start the year back to back ".

According to her, the minister's law "for a school of trust" was an "alert" for teachers: "they realized that it brought nothing but degraded their working conditions". Purged in Parliament of its most polemical articles, "she will not change much in the daily school, this is where the rub," she adds.

The minister is now expected on the reform of the baccalaureate, which will see the day in 2021, but which prepares upstream, and is reflected this year by a reform of high school for the first classes: finished series (L, ES, and S), replaced by specialty courses.

This reform crystallized tensions at the time of the bac. Several union organizations have already announced in July the filing of strike notice throughout the month of September for possible actions related to malfunctions.

- "Great tiredness" -

"This reform of the high school is a paradigm shift, a new puzzle to build, some elements of which could seize this fall," warns Stéphane Crochet, Secretary General of SE-Unsa.

Problems of time, staff, staff ... the risks of "bugs" are, according to him, potentially numerous.

Already received at the ministry Friday, the Snes-FSU, the first union in the secondary, expects a "complicated return, already tense", says Claire Guéville, national secretary.

"From the moment we do not put on the table the topics that annoy, such as the renunciation of a national examination, provided by the reform of the baccalaureate, it is difficult to perceive what can be the concrete elements of the social dialogue", judge-t -she.

During the first consultations last week, the Minister announced the establishment of "monitoring committees" of the reform, to allow regular feedback from the field and analyze the difficulties that arise.

A good initiative, says Catherine Nave-Bekhti, general secretary of the Sgen-CFDT, even if "we will have to see concretely what will be improved".

Also on the menu of discussions with trade unions: the working conditions of teachers. "There was a great fatigue accumulated last year, with periods of tension and the preparation of the reform of the high school," says Nave-Bekhti.

Another major reform particularly worries the profession, that of pensions. The High Commissioner for Reform, Jean-Paul Delevoye, has himself acknowledged that it would penalize categories that receive few bonuses, "like teachers".

"Our profession does not expect anything good from this reform", summarizes Stéphane Crochet. The education staff are more eager to finally see the government opening the promised site on their remunerations.

© 2019 AFP