“Yes to inclusion, no to pressure. Clermont on the verge of implosion. The signs were displayed on the gates of Clermont college, in Pau, this Tuesday, December 17. 83% of teachers and 77% of education assistants went on strike in this establishment which has 670 students.
At the origin of this movement, the attack on a teacher by a 6th grade student on December 2. “This student had received a notification to join a medical-educational institute (IME), recalls Lucie, teacher and Snes-FSU union representative. But he was educated in Clermont without an Accompanying Student with a Disability (AESH). He mostly did coloring in class. And then, for a seemingly trivial reason, he had a terrible fit of rage. He took a chair and tried to attack the other students. The teacher intervened, and she was bitten and hit. It took three adults to subdue the student, who was hospitalized. »
“A situation taken very seriously”
The episode had a strong impact within the teaching team. “The colleague was arrested. We were all very shocked, continues Lucie. First of all, it is extreme violence for this student, because the institution does not take his difference into account. » The union delegate insists on clarifying the meaning of the mobilization: “we are not against inclusion, but we are asking for resources”.
Lucie, however, points out the limits of welcoming certain students into an open environment. “We have more and more students who come from an IME or a Therapeutic Educational and Pedagogical Institute (ITEP). In this case, having an AESH, even if they do a wonderful job, is not enough. » She adds that this episode of violence echoes the attack on a colleague by a student with a similar profile, three years ago, during a school trip.
“The Departmental Houses for Disabled People (MDPH) prescribe assignments to medico-social establishments which do not always succeed, due to lack of places or due to the choice of families,” underlined a report from the Court of Auditors published in September 2024. Such situations lead schools and educational establishments, due to the obligation of schooling which falls to the Ministry of National Education, to welcome students with disorders faced by educational stakeholders who feel deprived. »
The majority of teachers at Clermont college were on strike Tuesday, December 17, in Pau. The movement follows the attack on a teacher by a 6th grade student with a disability, three years after a similar episode.
Quentin TOP / SO
When contacted, academic director François-Xavier Pestel assured that “the situation was taken very seriously by our services. There is support in place for the teacher. The next day, my assistant was in the establishment to meet the teams. »
An establishment in a priority zone?
François-Xavier Pestel specifies that work is being carried out “with the MDPH and the Regional Health Agency to try to prioritize the care of specific students. Generally speaking, there are a certain number of students waiting for a place in an establishment. There are a few, around ten in the department, who can pose a problem. These are very complex cases in terms of treatment. They can damage a class or an establishment. » Concerning Clermont College, the academic director mentions “information work with the teams on the care of these students with special educational needs”.
The establishment has the particularity of welcoming a number of students in difficulty. It has the largest adapted general and vocational education section (Segpa) in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, as well as several systems which make it possible to welcome students with disabilities, foreigners or from the traveling community. Clermont College has the lowest Social Position Index (SPI) of 64. The latter makes it possible to understand the social status of students based on the professions and social categories of their parents.
“There are establishments which have a higher IPS than ours, and they are classified as Priority Education Network (REP), notes Lucie. We are asking to be switched to REP in order to have more resources. » For his part, François-Xavier Pestel indicates that “this decision does not depend on the rector but on a decision at the national level. If the REP map is redone, I think that Clermont College will have arguments to put forward. »
