Reopening schools: teachers divided between wanting to reconnect and fear of the Covid-19

When Magali, Myriam, Fabienne and Sabrina heard the speech of President Emmanuel Macron announcing the resumption of classes on May 11, then the recovery plan of their minister Jean-Michel Blanquer, the four teachers went through all kinds of emotions: first surprise, then worry and skepticism.

In principle, the idea of ​​going back to school delighted most of them, eager to turn the page on containment. Between "the very heavy distance class", "the difficulties of reaching parents" and "the kids who are bored at home", they feel that "the students need to find themselves, to socialize".

After nine weeks of confinement to fight the Covid-19 epidemic, it is clear that many parents have found it difficult to reconcile telework and school at home, many children being taped on screens all day. In this unprecedented context, the essential, according to them, is not to teach or finish the programs, but to reconnect. "We have a social role to play," says Magali, a math teacher at a college in the Nantes academy. "We need to give the students new life."

"I don't want to die from Covid-19 when I go to school"

But the return will not be at any price. "We want to go back to work, but honestly, I don't want to die from the Covid-19 by going to school", worries for his part Fabienne, teacher of letters in a high school of the academy of Nancy-Metz. "Especially since it is not me who decides to take the risk for my family", she specifies while her husband suffers from hypertension and "comes out of thyroid cancer".

According to the echoes of the many WhatsApp exchanges of the faculty, this fear seems to be spreading. "Some people still have the feeling of being sacrificed and having to go to the slaughterhouse," reports Sabrina, an English teacher in a high school at the Aix-Marseille academy.

At the origin of this apprehension, the vagueness which hovers concerning the methods of return to school. During his hearing in the National Assembly on April 21, the Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, indicated that the recovery will be spread over three weeks by class level, with groups of 15 students maximum. Only pupils from the large sections of kindergarten, CP and CM2, known as "hinge classes", will return to school, priority being given to those in the REP + area (priority education network).

"The real question is not when we go back to class, but under what sanitary conditions," says Myriam, a teacher at the REP + elementary school in the Versailles Academy. "And we don't know that."

"No soap to wash your hands"

The 31-year-old Parisian girl notably expresses serious doubts about having hydroalcoholic gel for her students from May 11. "We were told that we will be supplied but we can hardly believe it since already in normal times, they do not have soap to wash their hands." The same is true for Magali. The pupils of his college have already passed the last year without having enough to wash their hands. "And there, we ended up having a soap for 350 adolescents, a month before the start of confinement," she said.

Enough to make teachers skeptical about cleaning tables, doorknobs or even banisters on stairs - potentially vectors of the virus - while technical staff are, in normal times, understaffed in a large majority of establishments school. In Sabrina's high school, an agent must clean a minimum of 20 rooms every day, as well as two toilets and the refectory. "How can we ask them more today?", Is indignant the 44-year-old English teacher, who draws up a bitter observation: "Today we are paying for the austerity policies carried out in National Education for thirty years, whether in terms of staff, equipment or overcrowded classes. "

In this context, few teachers dare to hope to be able to work with masks by May 11. "The government doesn't even have enough for the nursing staff, so how can we imagine having them for us," concedes Myriam. Except that Magali sees it as a priority. "When a teacher speaks, he pours a torrent of postillions on the tables, if not on the heads of the students," describes the math teacher, almost 39 years old. "Admittedly, this risks hiding all my expressiveness, which is essential for holding a class," she continues. However, she believes that "there will be its limit". "If the government does not give it to us, it will mean that it is not up to the task," she added.

"All this circus for six weeks of lessons"

In colleges and high schools, where classes must resume on May 18, respecting the social distance of two meters seems unrealistic. In the corridors for example. "The one who leads to my class serves 20 rooms with 35 students each. Imagine what it gives to the class, even with half the number of students," said Fabienne, the teacher from Lorraine.

To avoid such a scenario, it was once envisaged that teachers would circulate from class to class to allow students to stay in the rooms. "The idea does not hold water in high school, since classes are now split up for each specialty, whether SVT or languages," says Fabienne.

Same story in the classes: with a maximum of 15 students, it is difficult to envisage the two statutory meters between each adolescent. Fabienne is often in tutorial with her classes. Or 17 to 18 students per room. "Even in this configuration, they are barely half a table apart," she explains. "The one in the front row is right in front of me."

The only solution, she said: divide the classes of thirty students into three groups. "It means teaching a group every three weeks," continues the letter teacher, who calculates that in the end, each group will only benefit from two weeks of lessons, since the French bac exams start at the end of June. "Basically, he [the government] will have done all this circus for six weeks of lessons," says Fabienne cowardly, who nevertheless seeks to put into perspective in this unprecedented period. "What is three months of course over a full education?" She wonders. "Usually, we are told 'madam, we did not study this point of the program last year'. Well, for once, we will know that it is true," she quips.

Anger thunders in the teachers' room

While few teachers have raised the issue with their school director, "surely awaiting additional directives", everything seems to stand in the way of this return: organization, health conditions and parents. "Better to think about going back to school in September than to be back in a hurry," said Fabienne.

While waiting to have more details on the recovery procedures (which will be discussed between the ministry, the regions and the cities), anger is raging in the teachers' rooms. "We have the impression that the people who work in the ministry have never seen the reality of a classroom. Why not have consulted us?" "The problem is always the same in National Education. An instruction is given at the top and it is our responsibility to adapt things. Like that, if it does not work, it is on us that it falls."

Already scalded by the reform of Jean-Michel Blanquer's high schools last year, the teachers seem to have lost confidence in their minister. "It looks like he's undergoing Emmanuel Macron's announcements," notes Sabrina. When on March 12, the head of state announced the closure of all schools from Monday, March 16, the minister had the day before dismissed this idea , calling it "counterproductive". Regarding the reopening of schools on May 11, Jean-Michel Blanquer seems to have been once again "taken aback", believes Fabienne on his side. "We are told that in the ministry, we were preparing the terms for the start of the school year for September without being aware of May 11," said Lorraine.

"Shocked by Emmanuel Macron's speech"

While Fabienne and Sabrina are waiting for instructions from their school director to find out if they will return to their school, Myriam does not plan to resume in May. She says she is too shocked by "the double speech of Emmanuel Macron" which evokes "his will to palliate the inequalities" whereas at the same time, the ministry announced the abolition of the classes in many academies, and essentially REP +, "where the inequalities are greatest". For her, it is the last straw: "Her argument is nothing but a subterfuge", she is indignant.

However, Magali, she says she is ready to go, while remaining attentive to the development of the situation by May 11. "With strong consultation between colleagues and good preparation in advance, we should be able to do it," she believes, even if she recognizes that "preparing in a day is a bit short".

In this tumult, Fabienne, the French teacher, retained one thing. In his speech, Emmanuel Macron made it clear that the recovery would take place "if the sanitary conditions are there". "The media has forgotten the 'if', not us," she concludes.

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