A new week of mobilization in high schools has begun. On the day of Monday October 5, 413 establishments were disrupted, according to the Ministry of National Education. This is a little less than the previous Friday, before a major day of demonstration called by youth organizations for Tuesday. To try to calm things down, on Sunday evening, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu sent a roadmap to his ministers, with five projects arising from subjects raised by the academic councils of high school life, the first of which concerns the replacement of absent teachers.
Replacing absent teachers is a decisive and very concrete issue in educational establishments. It is also a recurring question for years and well identified by all those involved in the school. The Court of Auditors took an interest in this, particularly in 2025 and 2021, with this observation: students lose 10% of their teaching hours due to absent teachers, either because the position is vacant and therefore no one is appointed, or because the teacher is not in his class, due to sick leave, or for reasons which do not depend on him (a school trip with another class, training, an exam organized in the establishment or a meeting within the framework of the high school).
French, maths, German… A crisis in the attractiveness of the profession
How are these replacements organized? For short absences, less than fifteen days, school heads are encouraged to organize replacements internally, that is to say that teachers from the same high school replace each other. Three years ago, the Pacte system was even created, expressly to encourage them, with extra money for staff who work extra hours. Sébastien Lecornu highlights this, moreover, in his letter. But the allocated budget melted like snow in the sun.
The most striking thing for students and families, who no longer hesitate to go to court on this subject, are so-called long-term absences, those of more than two weeks. This time, the rectorate appoints replacements, but staff are needed and this is not always the case. Because the pool of substitutes is shrinking. In addition, certain replacements are assigned to vacant positions from the start of the year and are therefore no longer available for unforeseen absences during the year. As a result, some students sometimes miss weeks or even months of lessons, including in disciplines in which they take the baccalaureate at the end of the year.
To have enough teachers in front of each class, it is partly a question of resources, but not only that. Sometimes, National Education simply cannot find replacement teachers, especially in certain disciplines: French, mathematics, physics-chemistry or German. The cause is a crisis in the attractiveness of the profession. Finally, it can also be very difficult to find someone, permanent or contract, to teach only two or three hours of lessons in a high school that is not easily accessible, in a rural area or on the outskirts of a large city.
