Teachers in France miss twice as many days of work as workers in the private sector.
As if that weren't bad enough, a recent confidential report commissioned by former Education Ministry Xavier Darcos revealed that substitute teachers registered even higher levels of absenteeism than the people they were meant to replace. 17.4 days a year!!
As a result, 10,000 classes currently have no teacher at all.
For the full report, read the excellent article in Le Monde entitled "Two million sick days" by Maryline Baumard.
On a personal note, I remember watching an 8th grade class self-destruct over the course of a year during which the French --and home room--teacher was absent and not replaced for over a month. During that time, the kids had "perm" (left to their own devices) with no French whatsoever. At each "conseil de classe" the other teachers and the principal complained about how dissipated and disruptive the students were. But at no point did it occur to them that abandoning the kids for over a month had anything to do with this.
When I was still teaching in France, I was put on sick leave for depression, and not replaced for nearly a month. The sub they eventually hired let my students call him his first name (Francky!) and wrote nothing down in the cahiers de classe (that's the correct term, right?).
When I came back to work after my two and a half months of leave, I was unable to get a handle on any of my six classes. I felt like a failure, and I struggled for the rest of the year — December through June. It was hell. I had a lot of other sick days that year, because I couldn't face school.
I've often wished that France had a similar system for substitute teachers as we do in the U.S. I don't ever remember having study hall because a teacher was absent.
Posted by: Alison | 03 December 2009 at 14:30