“Remember the definition of the Pythagorean theorem that we saw last week?”, Nicolas Dhooge confidently asks his class of 4e fictitious, by drawing a geometric figure on the board. “In a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides.”answers a participant, seated in the front row, immediately. “fayot!” »then laughter bursts out in the large hall of the Alambert high school, in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), where 70 rather unusual students are gathered that afternoon. The average age is around 33. And Nicolas repeats in front of the others, under the watchful eye of a Choix de l’école trainer, the “teacher gestures”as part of this association’s summer campus.
The French branch of the American NGO Teach For All, it has been supporting higher education graduates and young professionals wishing to embrace teaching late in life in France since 2015. The program for these four intensive weeks includes practical workshops (“directing students’ attention”, “giving clear instructions”), but also introductions to didactics in each discipline (“preparing a session”, “learning to read”), as well as conferences by researchers (“guidance and self-censorship”, “child psychology”). Discussions with alumni (former students) are also organized.
Objective: to facilitate their entry into the deep end in September, when they become contract teachers. “Like in first aid, I feel like I’m learning the “life-saving actions” in class. You have to wait until you’re in the field to understand their usefulness and see how you can adapt them.”says Nicolas after his fictitious maths class. A few weeks ago, he was still responsible for fire safety and security at a hospital in the Paris region, after a bac + 5 in occupational health and industrial hygiene.
Motivation and salary reduction
When asked about his and his classmates’ reasons for being here and for this 180-degree career change, their story echoes the recurring testimonies of the “diverters”. These young people from generations Y and Z talk about brilliant studies in high school, which led them, without asking too many questions, to a major business or engineering school, an institute of political studies, sometimes a fine university… “But, after a few years of working, we realize that we are not very fulfilled in what we do, that we do not always understand the purpose of our job”sums up Robin, 27, who has just arrived from a human resources consultancy firm, where he spent four years after business school.
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