"After days of reflection, I think it's time to take it on: I decided to leave National Education at the end of this school year. I don't know where I'm going or what I'm going to But I intuitively know now that this is the right solution. " It was with a tweet that Benjamin Briand, professor of philosophy in Île-de-France, chose to bow out from public service on December 15.
After days of reflection, I think it is time to assume it: I decided to leave National Education at the end of this school year.
I don't know where I'm going to go or what I'm going to do. But I know intuitively now that this is the right solution.
This post was a relief for him. "I needed to say it because it has been a long time since I repressed this decision," he admits, during an interview with France 24, comparing his gesture "to a 'coming out'".
Five years of teaching career were enough for this 29-year-old teacher to reach the point of no return: an increasingly pressing physical and moral fatigue combined with a loss of sense of the profession. "I can't take it anymore, I gave everything I could, I no longer have faith, coward Benjamin Briand, who warned his management the next day. My missions to transmit knowledge and support development student minds have become impossible to reach. "
"My job, I love it very much," says the incumbent who practices in replacement areas. "Teaching, I love it, there are extraordinary moments like for example, explaining something to a student and seeing his eyes light up, his brain awake because he understands. It's worth all the gold in the world, but what pains me is that these moments are increasingly rare. "
"I recover war wounded"
Today, Benjamin Briand, who teaches in two high schools in Argenteuil, on the outskirts of Paris, believes that he no longer succeeds in preparing his students for the next cycle. "I have the impression of recovering war wounded who are lacking in knowledge and that it is impossible today to help them move towards the future. I have the feeling of sending them to the slaughterhouse ".
The teacher-student relationship is deteriorating. "The relationship between us and them is more and more tense, he admits. Before, high school students who felt that school despised them predominated in technical fields. Today, this discomfort has spread to general classes ".
Whose fault is it ? "I am not accusing anyone, neither the pupils, nor the parents, nor the National Education", he affirms. But he ends up pointing the finger at the reforms which have followed one another without consistency. Consequence: psychological pressure fell on the faculty and students.
The first reform that struck Benjamin Briand was that of the college, led in 2015 by the then Minister of Education, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. In particular, it plans to promote practical learning and interdisciplinary projects. "In fact, it has considerably impoverished the fundamental lessons," said the teacher who saw middle school students arriving in high school "with a monumental delay". "The basics of French are not acquired, he adds. Just like in mathematics, where the pupils show enormous gaps".
"How do you want to build a new learning floor if the lower levels of the building are not solid?", He gets carried away. "The delay is often too great to be absorbed. And we don't have enough time to make up for it."
In 2017, the arrival of a former rector of academy on rue de Grenelle raised a wave of hope. "Jean-Michel Blanquer replaced the very political Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, which was out of reality. We thought he would repair past mistakes," he recalls.
But nothing has changed. "He added a layer", according to him, by implementing, in 2018, the reform of the baccalaureate. It plans to eliminate the three general streams and promote specialties. "Clearly, from the second, the students had to have an idea of the options to take for the first and the final. Except that asking them to choose earlier than usual with less knowledge, this gives an explosive cocktail of tensions and pressure, "comments Benjamin Briand.
"I have the feeling of leaving a big theater in which everyone plays comedy"
In June 2019, teachers decided to protest this reform by striking copies, a movement that caused an uproar. Benjamin decides not to take part. "I still had the illusion that it could get better," he admits. He nevertheless regretted that the teachers' actions had not been understood by journalists and parents. "The reform is very technical and difficult to explain when you are not in the dark," he argues. The result, he said: media coverage gave the feeling that teachers were taking their students hostage. "They felt humiliated, the episode was very painful," he said. "There is a real misunderstanding of what teachers are going through and the image people have of them."
In "this gloomy and heavy atmosphere", the pension reform was only "the last straw" which pushed him to leave. "I am too young to feel targeted by pensions, but this question affects many of my colleagues who, between the loss of sense of the job and the salary which is not fantastic, overwhelms and discourages us even more," explains T "With such a bleak future, I can't stay. I feel like I'm leaving a big theater in which everyone plays comedy."
Resigning is a relief because the years to come will be worse, he says. "The suffering of the profession is very great and it should further increase." His tweet, which sparked 2,400 likes and 529 retweets, was a big hit with internet users, including teachers. "I'm not going to delay either," reacted @Levez_le_doigt, as did @AgagBoudjahlat who said "to follow soon" the example of Benjamin Briand.
"How many colleagues get up in the morning, happy to go and teach?"
The idea of retraining is widely used in classrooms. He recognizes that the decision is easier for him than for others. He who is young, single and tenant of his apartment.
"How many colleagues get up in the morning, happy to go to teach? There are none. How many high school students want to become teachers? There are none," writes @annadigoef. The number of candidates for CAPES 2020 is down by almost 8% and drops to 30,883. This is the lowest figure since 2013.
Benjamin Briand's departure is scheduled for the end of the school year. Enough to give him time to plan his new life. "Maybe psychological support or coaching," he considers.
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