“My long-term goal is to ban inclusive writing via the midpoint“, she announced in front of the Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
A marginal practice
With what consequences on the ground? For Zoé, a French and human sciences teacher in the Namur region, this will have no impact on her way of working as this practice remains marginal. “In all the courses I have had the opportunity to teach, no textbook used inclusive writing. We have no recommendation from management on this matter.“, she explains.
However, she ensures that she gives an important place to inclusiveness in these lessons. “I attach great importance to making my students understand that the role played by women is evolving and that it is more essential than ever, but not through spelling“, says the teacher. She is convinced of it, “It is not thanks to this type of spelling that we will help improve the inclusiveness of women in society.“
“No to inclusive writing, because it confuses, lengthens, uglies”
Complicates learning
The main argument that holds Zoé back from using the midpoint in her lessons, but also in communications with students and their parents, is above all understanding. Accustomed to working in environments where a large number of her students are seriously behind schedule, she cannot imagine complicating the situation with an additional rule. “We are dealing with some students who are already completely lost. If we also have to teach them to use the midpoint in their exercises, we won’t get by.“, she laments.
The Minister of Education also justifies her desire to ban this midpoint from French-speaking schools in the country by the risk that this spelling poses to students in difficulty. The minister’s office emphasizes the confusion that these sequences of points and letters could cause to children suffering from “dys” disorders, in other words, language and learning disorders.
Valérie Glatigny’s office, however, insists on the exclusive desire to attack the midpoint and not other spelling adaptations favoring the inclusiveness of the feminine gender. The community policy declaration of the MR-Engagés majority further points out that “the feminization of job names and functions constitutes an important step forward“.
MR and Engagés want to put an end to inclusive writing
Not on the curriculum of Catholic schools
On the side of the General Secretariat of Catholic Education (SeGEC), the story is identical. Arnaud Michel, its spokesperson, explains that “the midpoint has never been on the curriculum of Catholic education“. “Behind this type of inclusive writing, there is a paradox, because even if it includes the feminine gender more, it does not help students who have problems learning to read, nor students in the middle of learning for whom the French is not the mother tongue“, he justifies.
In the same vein as the Minister of Education, Arnaud Michel confirms that the SeGEC nevertheless makes it a point that Catholic schools in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation actively participate in inclusiveness. He elaborates: “We encourage teachers in our network to inform students on the subject, to feminize the names of professions, but also to offer more books written by female writers for reading.“
