Minutes from the TESOL MEETING 16/02/08

Harold Surguine & Sophie Pietrucci

There are quality standards systems in 3 countries (not France)

Out of 16 vacataires present:

Hours of class per week:

Less than 3: 3 people

3-10 hours: 1 person

10-15: 4 people

16-19: 2 people

20-25: 4 people

25+: 2

Hours of outside class time spent per week (preparation, corrections, etc):

Less than 3 : 0 people

3-10 hours: 3 people

10-15: 10 people

16-19: 1 people

20-25:1 person

25+

Number of schools worked in:

1 school -5 people

2 schools - 4 people

3 - 3 people

4 - 4 people

5+ - 1 person

6 people are both vacataire and permanent

advantages – flexibility, being able to quit easily, managing own time, know more than one place, know different people, teaching environments, different audience, recycling material, sense of freedom, not being involved in office politics, cross-fertilization and curriculum design, back-up work, easy to find new work at certain times of year, workshops, conferences paid by TESOL, no routine schedule, spice to your life, freedom to explore other careers during seasonal time off

both pros and cons - no office hours, seasonal work

disadvantages – taking on too much work, unstable income, unpredictable schedule, dealing with admin, late and irregular payment, problems with admin, commuting (time and cost), non-access to resources, no benefits (lunchroom, toilets, comité d’entreprise, training, wi-fi access, 35H, paid vacation, sick leave, maternity leave, sabbatical, pension, travel), retirement issues, fatigue, lack of status, too many bosses, lack of job security, lack of sense of integration –outsider, office problems, career development, timetable stress, limited amount of hours per year (different per institution), finding a main employer (need 300 hours), isolation, structural incompetence, divide between permanent staff/vacataire, feeling reluctant to complain, outside work given by students, department, imposed vacations

70% of university teachers in US are temp—make several thousand a month compared to the 30% who make mega-bucks

Under what circumstances would you accept to be vacataire?

Optimal conditions for part-timers/teachers:

staffroom (office), guaranteed number of blocked hours each year in each place, clear & monthly payment, regular working times, access to material- photocopy, VPP, internet access, decent pay rate, equal access to on-site canteens, toilets, easy access to the bldg, clear cancellation policy (due cancellation or pay), admin simplicity and efficiency (forms to fill in), coordination, living with a full-timer, all benefits of full-time work, access to training, career advancement possibilities, possibilities to meet other teachers from other departments, professional recognition, part-time/full-time ratio, hiring system and period (often at last minute), paid teachers meetings to coordinate (before la rentrée), good support system, standard books/coursebooks provided, paid course design, good audiovisual support system, paid workshops and meetings at reasonable times, equitable salary and working conditions

1989 – SMIC 4€48, one Grand Ecole – 38€40

2007 SMIC 8€44 (increase 188%), Grand Ecole 38€ (decrease)

Solutions

Promote the schools doing the best jobs and show them to the public. Create “schools of excellence”.

Leonardo de Vinci – trying to maintain as many full-timers as possible. ????

Schools classified in categories-pay rate determined by different ministries. Many determined by factors high up within the institutions. Statutes, decrees, articles….? A political step to be taken up with ministries themselves.

But it’s not only about pay.

University teachers are paid differently according to their CAPES, AGREG, etc. Difficult to find out who’s being paid what and why. Sometimes depends on how many hours the dept declares. The dept can declare more hours than you’ve worked.

Advantages desired in addition to pay also included scheduling, blocked hours, same materials recycled, not a lot of corrections.

Professionalizing the profession: recognizing the profession. There should be a concerted effort to ask officially and publicly—Why is there no serious consideration to such a national priority? Language teachers in primary school just have to fend for themselves. Whole industries depend on native speakers, but there’s no immigration effort to import them. The govt level is blind to the evolution that is happening. There is still time to give them info on the status. There is a drive to professionalize.

Does the French govt really want to deal with professionalizing English learning in school?

Hal’s Proposal - Give an award to a school, which gives all criteria of excellence. Show the best of schools, interview students, teachers, etc., on objective criteria.

What about directors of language dept asking the higher instances every year about giving vacataires a non-vacataire status?

Legal aspects

If you have no signed contract and have worked for 48 hours, you are automatically a full-time CDI. Vrai et faux vacataires- Les vrais sont les employées de l’état—les fonctionnaires, contractuelles et les vacataires payés par l’état, ou la municipalité que dans le secteur public pour remplacer—pas à la place de-- un salarié permanent. Le terme n’existe pas dans le code de travail. Dans le droit privé--grandes écoles (supérieures), c’est illégaux.

Contrat de CDI à partir de manque de contrat après 48 heures.

Relation de bonne foi (pour les Prud’hommes) est très important.

Les CDD ne peuvent pas exister pour les emplois permanents, ni interrompu par les vacances scolaires.

Les profs de supérieure sont en CDII.

Les écoles privées ont une convention collective, les patrons sont syndiqués.

Faux vacataire –tout le monde qui travaille dans le privé. Un CDD d’usage n’est pas possible pour un poste régulier. Un contrat déterminé doit être pour une raison (un surcroit d’activité)

Il y a une convention collective pour les écoles de langues où il y a des langues qui ne sont pas des matières régulières (ex. le suédois). Ponctuelle. Ou s’il s’agit des lieux géographique loin (à Nantes…) Ou l’accroissement d’activité (extraordinaire).

Un décret qui exige un emploi principal : l’idée était que c’était dans l’industrie.

CDD d’usage c’est finit—par un directive european (arrêté sur les journalists).

Telecom peut recruiter les vacataires que pour 60 heures dans l’année. Il faut le décret du Ministère et le statut pour savoir d’où vient le droit.

Contacts:

Info on the ESSEC case: Superieurprive.hautefort.com

Andre.martin95@aliceadsl.fr -lawyer for ESSEC

Union info: www.snpefp-cgt.org

Union representative present- Deirdre: lynam.demornay@wanadoo.fr

Harold : surguine@club-internet.fr