ÇIt didn’t take long… Four months after the new MR-Engagés government got underway, the school experienced its first major strike. The unions are continuing a movement started under the previous legislature but the target has changed: the reform of qualifications and the end of the appointment of teachers. Valérie Glatigny, MR Minister of Education, defends her government’s position tooth and nail and points out the deficit spiral of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
You have just arrived and the school is already on strike…
I understand that it is not nice that we have to make savings but I remind you that there are savings in all sectors, including in the functioning of parliaments and cabinets. For the record, in October, the Moody’s agency lowered the outlook for the Wallonia-Brussels Federation from “stable” to “negative”. With this deterioration of our rating, we risk seeing the cost of borrowing rise and therefore increase the burden. The 2025 deficit – Editor’s note, what we must borrow in the long term to cover all the French Community’s expenses – amounts to 1.287 billion. And it increases every year. If we do not control our budgetary trajectory, we are heading for disaster. We have decided to make savings in all sectors because we are faced with a very distressing situation but, at no time, are we going to touch either the essential missions of the school, nor the teachers’ salaries.
On the other hand, you will mainly focus on qualifying education, why?
We are simply following the main guidelines of the Pact for excellent teaching. From 2017, it was planned to achieve better management of the qualifier and a reduction of options at the start of secondary school. These measures are therefore nothing, absolutely nothing, of a surprise. Caroline Désir, who preceded me as Minister of Education, had already worked on this issue with the organizing authorities and the unions, etc. The Pact is a bit like a house that you have to put in order: first you buy beautiful furniture and then you put the things away. This is what we did, we released hundreds of millions for new resources: since 2017, we have created 4,800 additional full-time equivalents for strengthening nursery supervision, language courses, etc. We first spent… but there were plans for return effects and therefore savings to finance the perfectly legitimate initial expenses. However, saving money is always more difficult to do. We are now in a situation where we can no longer not do them.
Back to the qualifier…
Here are some figures to understand: schools organize 5,400 different options but half, 2,700, have fewer than ten students. And among them, there are 1,300 for which there is a similar offer a few kilometers away. When we look at these elements in the face and we know that we must make savings, we choose to do what was planned by the Pact for a long time: end of small options, orientation of dropouts and adults towards the teaching for adults, stopping the seventh techniques. Alongside savings, we are also finding new ways to support change. For us, for example, it is a question of better identifying where the adult dropouts considered to be “Need” are (Editor’s note, “Not in Employment, Education or Training” for “neither in employment, nor in studies, nor in training”). The idea is obviously not to abandon them but to direct them towards other training bodies which certainly correspond better to their needs.
Should we really prevent them from enrolling in third or fourth secondary?
There is indeed a measure which consists of preventing re-registrations in 3e or 4e of these adult students who dropped out a year ago. The majority of them are over 20 years old! Do they really need to be in classes with 14-15 year old teenagers for a random result when there is training better suited to their needs in adult education (formerly social promotion, Editor’s note)? It is the same principle for the seventh years of qualification or professional. They are aimed at adult students who already have their CESS. Unless there are exceptions – as an optician, dental prosthetist or security profession assistant – we will redirect them to adult education which organizes the same training. The idea is really to stop duplication, to redefine everyone’s perimeters. I do not exclude that there is, as always in these cases, one or another training which would pose a problem but if necessary, in dialogue with the organizing authorities, we will put together a file to create a solution.
However, on the ground, secondary establishments note the deleterious impact of these various measures and fear for their survival…
We are talking, on average, of 2% of lesson periods in the schools concerned and the maximum is 10%. We will support establishments. For the moment, we have identified two schools in difficult situations but they were already in difficulty before the reform. They will benefit from transitional measures. Furthermore, overall, there will be no outright loss of jobs. I would like to remind you that we are in a situation of teacher shortage but it is entirely possible that a teacher with partial loss of workload will have to complete his schedule in a neighboring establishment. The idea is also to break down the network barriers: I know perfectly well that a mechanics teacher is not going to teach hairdressing but if there are hours in the next school that don’t is not on the same network, he must be able to access it. In addition, schools can use part of the class periods allocated to them for new functions such as preventing bullying or dropping out of school. Finally, it is important to know that a complete team has been working for years on the social dimension of these measures provided for by the Pact.
You are criticized for a lack of consultation on this issue…
I can’t hear that. Firstly because everything has been planned for years by previous Ministers of Education. Then because I meet the unions, the federations of organizing authorities, the parents’ associations… every six weeks. In addition, I speak very often with school management and I have responded to several of their requests in terms of administrative relief or scheduling… We must clearly agree on what we mean by consultation. Listening doesn’t mean “yes” to everything. Doing politics means making choices with the imperative of budgetary sustainability in mind. It doesn’t make me happy to save money, but I just don’t see us continuing to increase the deficit like this. It would be a poisoned chalice for future generations.
Another annoying point is the end of the status of teachers. Where are we?
The idea is to offer a “CDIE”, a specific permanent contract for teaching with a second pension pillar, without loss of rights; with also a relaxation of the start and end of career. Finally, with a scale increase since it will concern teachers trained in four years from 2027. Appointed people obviously remain appointed and for those who are in the process of being appointed, there will be a transitional period. What obsesses me is the lack of job security for beginning teachers, what we can offer them with a permanent contract. At the same time, we will work on harmonizing the statuses between the networks. The fact that they are different and that a teacher cannot complete his schedule contributes to increasing the shortage.
The official WBE network is questioning the measures that concern it… Do you blame it?
Certainly not. He benefited in particular from extralegal employment. Was it fair that some schools, routinely, were favored over others? The answer is no. But if I see extralegal exemptions elsewhere, it will be the same response. It is true that there is also this progressive refinancing of other networks to reach 92% of the official subsidies. I accept it because it is the end of a historical imbalance. It is also the continuation of work begun under the PS-MR-Ecolo legislature. We are correcting a historical injustice. And I remind you that this benefits not only free software, but also the official subsidized networks of municipalities and provinces.
Will free primary education be extended?
It is not called into question in terms of the amounts but an evaluation is planned. Which does not mean that we are going to throw these measures in the trash. With school fees, meals, digital technology, etc., “free” costs around a hundred million per year. It deserves an evaluation. On the other hand, I will be careful to ensure that the measures reach their priority target, namely vulnerable families; also attentive to the burden they represent for school management.
However, in the 2025 budget, there are no plans to extend it to fourth primary.
Correct, free education will not be extended to primary four at the next school year, simply because we are waiting for the evaluations. I assume it. And I would like to point out in passing that I asked for an evaluation of the school costs existing in the qualifier, costs which sometimes reach peaks.
What do you want to say to the teachers who will strike on Tuesday?
One, I understand that it is not nice that we have to make savings but there will be some in all sectors. Two, we do not in any way affect the essential missions of the school and we are also able to provide resources for new policies. Three, we are in a situation of budgetary rigor, not austerity. Four, the dialogue is not broken, I am available to discuss.
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