Who are the teachers?

In 1990, a decree created the corps of primary school teachers, which had the effect of aligning the number of years of training, status and remuneration of primary school teachers with those of secondary school. Does this rapprochement help to blur the differences within the teaching corps, and mainly between primary and secondary school? Or is there a significant divide between the two levels, marked by social or socio-historical differences? This is the question that Géraldine Farges has tackled in a survey that is part of the sociology of social stratification. She carries out a methodical comparison of the composition of teaching corps according to two preponderant parameters: age (often in two classes separated by the 45-year mark, sometimes in three) and level (first and second). Minimizing the importance of other modes of differentiation, it extends the study of the structural heterogeneity of “teaching conditions” by analyzing the socio-historical developments of status, consideration, representation of the profession, and teaching sociabilities.

Internal hierarchies

The book first looks at the status of teachers, whether this refers to membership of a body, employment status or social status, understood as the backgrounds of origin and belonging of teachers. G Farges draws on the study of the Employment surveys of theINSEE and on an analysis of 1749 questionnaires. Comparisons by age group and the study of successive reforms make it possible to identify a more marked evolution for primary school teachers who see their social status and standard of living rise. This social ascension is less marked for secondary school teachers, sociologically closer to the teaching environment (through parents and spouses), than those who teach in primary school, closer to more modest social backgrounds.

However, the differences in status remain significant between secondary and primary school teachers. The two groups enjoy unequal “prestige of the profession” and “prestige of birth”, to the advantage of secondary school teachers. The latter feel more valued, socially and intellectually; they also come from higher social backgrounds and pursue more valued studies (p. 210). Furthermore, while income is theoretically on the same scales, several bonuses and allowances more frequent in secondary school reinforce the favored status of secondary school teachers. Thus, we note a ratio of 1.6 to 15 years of seniority between the hourly salary of secondary school teachers and that of primary school teachers.

Teaching experiences and lifestyles

G Farges analyses the professional dimension from the point of view of the value given to teaching, but also of actual work and career prospects. The author studies the exercise of the profession by comparing professional experiences according to age and levels of teaching. Young secondary school teachers (Rayou and Van Zanten, 2004) and primary school teachers (Périer, 2001) experience an entry into the profession marked by the instability of working conditions: they are assigned to establishments far from their home, have a heavier workload than their older colleagues and work habits that are not yet established. They are more than their elders confronted with work contexts marked by hardship, indiscipline or violence. For young primary school teachers, for example, the work prescribed by the school administration is heavier than that of their colleagues who entered the profession earlier: they report an average hourly volume of 52 hours per week, or 10 hours more than other teachers (p.124). Aware of its devaluation in the social space, teachers nevertheless continue to value their profession.

The author then focuses on the variations in sociability, the relationship to politics and the cultural leisure activities of teachers. The representations that see the profession as a coherent profession marked by intimacy are also present among some teachers, who then take care to detach themselves from it by distancing themselves from professional friendly sociability (p. 167). This phenomenon is more marked for young secondary school teachers who more often have friendly relations oriented towards the top of the social hierarchy (p. 210). The author relies here on the analysis of 60 interviews that allow the survey to gain in density and to show the situations and points of view of teachers on the questions studied.

Young teachers engage in fewer cultural activities than their older colleagues. The main reasons for this are the reduced time available and financial resources (p. 190). G Farges, however, points out that teachers regret not having more cultural practices valued and identified as part of legitimate culture (theatre, classical literature, auteur cinema, etc.) and consider that this does not fall within the expected norm. When they cite cultural practices linked to popular culture (Hollywood cinema, entertainment, broadcasts on television channels aimed at the general public, sports, etc.), they often justify them by the need to maintain a connection with their students or by their educational virtues.

Teaching in the Relegation Neighborhoods

G Farges’ work allows for an in-depth exploration of what differentiates teachers who are often considered a homogeneous group. The differences, sometimes minimal, other times very marked, are analyzed meticulously and this work allows the author to defend the thesis of the coexistence of “social worlds”, that is to say, groups of individuals who present similarities in their situation and their background, first according to the level of teaching and then age. These two elements, which are the main distinguishing characteristics, do not, however, allow for accounting for all the differences between the situations and profiles of teachers: we see the questions of gender, training and territory without being able to explore them in depth. However, these limits are not hidden by the author who specifies that the results “most certainly suppose finer variations according to the bodies (aggregated, certified, vocational high school teachers, etc.) or the teaching conditions (type of establishment, general, technological or professional education stream, etc.)” (p. 30). She unfortunately acknowledges that she is not able to analyze them, due to the absence of these indicators in the tools used (they are rarely present in the questionnaires and interview guides).

These elements can nevertheless constitute pronounced markers of differentiation between teachers. The territory in which they work is thus the basis of a distinction between young people, who more frequently have a position in an area marked by inequalities, and older teachers, who often work in more valued establishments. The greater professional difficulties in so-called sensitive establishments or those falling under priority education are well known and the requirements of teaching work are notably stronger there: teachers must lead educational councils, coordinate the school-college link and welcome or support new arrivals. The monitoring of students experiencing learning difficulties or presenting behavioral problems is also more important, ordinary sick leave is more numerous, particularly for primary school teachers (p. 123). We can therefore see in these differences the effect of the particularity of the French education system which chooses to place young teachers in the most struggling establishments.

Training can also weigh in the constitution of the professional ethos and social groups of teachers: because it has evolved over the years, the training that the youngest teachers have followed is very different from that of their elders. Furthermore, training programs and the way they are taught can vary between the Higher Schools of Teaching and Education (ESPE). The academies do not all have the same attractiveness, the selection being stronger in some, which are then less accessible to candidates from working-class backgrounds. The selection is thus stronger in Corsica (which admits 13% of the number of candidates present) than in the academies of Créteil (63%) and Versailles (74%) which are more under tension. The evaluations within the ESPE as well as the competition selects candidates based on certain dispositions, not always taught, but which can have an impact on success and therefore on access to the profession.

Finally, gender is a strong marker of difference. In secondary education, the spouses of female teachers are more often teachers than the spouses of teachers. Young female primary school teachers are more often in a relationship with a manager and women come from more privileged social backgrounds than men. This phenomenon is only rarely addressed by the analysis, particularly due to the small number of male respondents in the sample of young teachers, but may be an important avenue for identifying social differentiations within this professional group (Moreau, 2011).

A work that is too timid

Géraldine Farges presents us with a dense subject and works on it using original data and analysis that allow us to better understand and differentiate teachers. The writing is pleasant and the demonstration is rigorous. However, the questions addressed by the author carry a certain number of social and educational issues that she ultimately emphasizes little. The fact that teaching itself is a vector of educational inequalities deserves special attention in this regard. The literature has shown the sometimes difficult link between school and certain social environments, often the most precarious fringes of working-class backgrounds (Millet & Thin, 2005; Périer, 2005). These distances and misunderstandings are partly the product of the great social distance between teachers, students and their families. However, G Farges shows that, even if teachers come from disjointed worlds or groups, they constitute a group belonging to the middle class and therefore relatively distant from the working classes. In this sense, its contribution helps to shed light on the debates on the selection and training of teachers, and in particular on the question of whether it is necessary to recruit at a high level, at the risk of reinforcing the gaps, or to try to create a teaching body that is more socially mixed and therefore less distant from the students, provided that this mix is ​​also ensured in all territories.