NATF (the French National Academy of Technologies) ISSUES A RECOMMENDATION IN RESPECT TO RECRUITING AND TRAINING OF TEACHERS FOR FRANCE’S ‘PROFESSIONAL LYCEES

The National Academy of Technologies of France wishes to draw public attention to the current situation in French ‘Professional’ Lycées that NATF is following closely.

NATF strongly recommends that the majority of the teacher recruitment be carried out in the professional sectors, especially in those areas where the skill or trade does not have an academic or university base, inasmuch as the skills and know-how are acquired “hands on”.

Arrangements should be made so that highly qualified and skilled professionals can find attractive and lasting careers prospects in this field, as is the case in all neighbouring developed countries.

What is at stake is no less than the industrial and economic future of France.

The French Government has undertaken a broad reform of the training procedures for school teachers that essentially will be entrusted to the Universities. This programme covers the training of all secondary level, ‘lycée’ teachers including those who will be teaching in so-called ‘professional’ lycées.

NATF expresses its concern as to the preparation of the recruitment programmes at various levels, supposedly taking the new reform arrangements into account.

By making the French Master’s Degree an obligatory prerequisite in order to be qualified to teach in professional lycées will lead to a disastrous situation for these courses that are aimed at over one third of any age class. And, if France clearly needs highly qualified engineers and research workers, it also needs, to a large extent, high quality training schemes for all those jobs that involve “hands-on intelligence” (or manual skills).

In order to ensure recruiting quality, it will obviously be necessary to draft and enforce specific rules, allowing on one hand to judge the technical level, the associate cultural and professional acumen acquired by the trainees, by value adding from their personal experience and motivation. Rules set at a national level, sectorially branch by branch, will hopefully allow us to avoid the main pitfalls that the Academy sees as possible.

The NATF therefore proposes to assist Government to study appropriately the application of these rules and is ready to participate in implementation of the same.

Created in 2000, and currently presided over by Prof. Alain POMPOIDOU is a reference institution and a privileged partner between the S&T research world and the socio-economic actors, in all issues that involve technological questions. The latter are analysed in a transverse and prospective manner, taking into account the question of risks, of impacts on the environment and health, and likewise economic and societal issues.

NATF at present has 255 elected Fellows, or very varied origins – research workers, engineers, industrialists, company CEOs … it is a locus of experience and a focus point for peer-to-peer interdisciplinary debates on ongoing technology induced change and on major issues that Society faces today and will face tomorrow.